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The Philadelphia 
Correspondence Schools 

of 

Foundry Practice 



Dr. Edward Kirk's System 
of Foundry Practice 

METALLURGY 

OF FOUNDRY IRONS 

AND FOUNDRY 

PRACTICE 



938 NORTH TENTH STREET 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



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COPYRIGHTED 

1918 

By Dr. EDWARD KIRK 



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MAY -9 i9i8 



',A497274 



IRON 



Chapter I. 

In the study of iron, the first aim of the student should be to 
learn the source from which it is obtained, method of production, 
and various grades and qualities of iron. 

The source of supply is from iron ore, of which there is an 
abundant supply in this country, as almost every state in the union 
has iron ore deposits to a greater or less extent ; and the deposits 
that have been opened up and are being worked, have been esti- 
mated to be sufficient to supply our wants for a hundred years at 
the present rate of consumption of iron. Our coal supply for 
smelting is also unlimited, so there may be no fear of scarcity of 
iron or that the present high price of pig-iron (fifty dollars per 
ton) will be maintained for any great length of time. During 
our Civil War, pig-iron sold as high as seventy-five dollars per 
ton, and several times since that date has reached abnormally 
high prices, but after each of these high-priced periods it declined 
to its normal price, and in some cases even below, and sold as low 
as eight to ten dollars per ton at the furnace. With the abundance 
of ore, fuel and blast furnace facilities in this country, the present 
high prices cannot possibly be maintained, after the thousands of 
tons being shot away in the present trench warfare has ceased. 

Iron ores are designated as red hematite, brown hematite, 
black band, magnetic, high manganese, high silicon, etc. Ores are 
also designated by the location in which they are found such as, 
Bog Ores, Lake Superior, Cornwall, Iron Mountain, etc. These 
terms or names indicate to a large extent the quality of iron that 
may be obtained from them and are of more interest to the fur- 
nacemen than the foundrymen. 



4 PIG IRONS 

The fuels used in smelting ores are charcoal, coke and anthra- 
cite coal. The ore is smelted in blast furnaces, in direct contact 
with their fuels, and they have a direct influence upon the char- 
acteristics of the iron, and frequently give to it certain character- 
istics not found in the ore. 



Pig Irons 

Foundry Iron. 

The term foundry iron is used to indicate that a pig-iron is 
a soft machinable iron, possessing fluidity and other desirable 
qualities for castings. This term covers a large variety of iron 
and does not always indicate that the iron is suitable for the line 
of work to be cast, as a stove plate iron is too open and porous 
and does not possess the strength required in heavy castings, and 
an iron suitable for heavy castings would run too hard for stove 
plate, and it is the practice in ordering iron to order by analysis 
or to indicate the kind of castings the iron is to be melted for, and 
leave it to the iron broker or furnaceman to ship a suitable iron. 

Besides the soft iron, commonly designated foundry iron, 
there are a large number of special foundry pig, such as car wheel 
pig bessemer pig, malleable pig. high silicon pig, high manganese 
pig, high phosphorous pig, etc. These irons are designed for cast- 
ings requiring special characteristics such as hardness, softness, 
chilling properties, strength, annealing properties, etc., and are 
melted alone or in mixtures with other irons, to give these char- 
actertistics to the castings in a modified form or to give fluidity 
or flowing properties to a sluggish iron, and cause it to run up 
sharp in the casting. 

Cold Blast Charcoal Pig. 

In the early days of the iron industry in this country, all pig- 
iron cast was cold blast charcoal iron, that is, the ore from which 
it was obtained was smelted with charcoal fuel, and a blast of the 
normal temperature of the atmosphere. 

The blast furnaces in which this iron was smelted were all 
small ones. A furnace of twelve ton capacity being considered 
a large one, and the small ones four to eight tons per day, and 
this is still the average size of charcoal smelting furnaces. With 
the disappearance of the forest from which wood for charcoal 
making was obtained for smelting, these furnaces have also disap- 
peared to a greater or less extent and the output of this iron at 



PIG IRONS 5 

the present time is almost entirely limited to a few of the Southern 
States and the Lake Superior Iron ore region. The output of 
this iron is very limited and so high in price that it can only be 
used for special castings requiring great strength or a deep chill. 

This iron is the strongest of all the foundry irons and has 
the most marked tendency for chill when suddenly solidified 
against a cold chill. It was the only iron used for malleable iron 
and car wheels for many years, but at the present time the entire 
output of this iron in a year in this country is not sufficient to 
supply these foundries for one day, and only a few of the smaller 
malleable iron and car wheel plants favorably located continue 
to use it exclusively. Others only use about 10 per cent, to tone 
up their mixture of other irons, while others have been compelled 
to abandon its use entirely and use coke iron with steel scrap as a 
strengthener and chill giver. 

This iron is so strong that it is cast in pig of only about two- 
thirds the width of those of coke iron, arid the pigs are notched 
on both sides to facilitate breaking them for charging and melt- 
ing. All the iron cannon used before the introduction of steel 
cannon were cast with this iron, and it was frequently termed 
gun metal. 

This iron, at the present time, is principally used for chilled 
rolls alone and in mixtures with coke iron. Outside of the Lake 
Superior iron region it is principally graded by fracture indica- 
tions. 

No. 1 is a high Silicon, low sulphur iron, with a large crystal- 
line structure in fracture and runs soft in castings of not very 
light sections. 

No. 2 shows a smaller crystalline structure in fracture and 
frequently a chill of one-eighth of an inch when cast against an 
iron chill. 

No. 3 has a fracture similar to that of a forged coke iron, 
and shows a one-fourth inch chill when cast against a chill. 

No. 4 gives a chill of three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch 
in depth. 

No. 5. The fracture is strongly mottled and gives a chill of 
three-fourths to one and a half inches. 

No. 6 is a white iron, practically all the carbon being in a 
combined state. 



6 ' PIG IRO^§ 

A mixture of these grades gives a chill of almost arty 
desired depth when cast against a chill, and a very hard or strong 
iron when not cast against a chill, and is regarded as the very best 
metal for rolls of any size, for rolling metal, either hot or cold. 

One of the tricks of foundrymen after the introduction 
of anthracite and coke irons, which were regarded at that time as 
inferior, was to keep a pile of charcoal pig in the yard, to show 
the customer the quality of iron to be placed in his casting. When 
a customer desired a very strong iron in his casting, he was taken 
into the foundry yard and a pig of this iron broken after numer- 
ous blows with a heavy sledge. This test generally satisfied the 
customer, who believed he was getting an extra quality of iron, 
while the pig broken was probably the only one that went into 
many tons of his castings, the castings being made from the 
cheaper grades of pig. This trick is still resorted to by some 
small founders to show the strength of their iron, and also that 
they do not use all scrap for first-class castings. 

Hot Blast Charcoal Pig. 

Hot blast charcoal pig is an iron smelted with charcoal fuel 
and a hot blast. This iron is smelted in furnaces of about the same 
design and size as the cold blast charcoal furnaces, the only dif- 
ference being, that the blast is heated before being forced into the 
furnace. The heating of the blast is found to have a softening 
effect upon the iron, and greatly reduce its chilling tendency, when 
sand or chilled cast, and make it the very best iron for castings of 
very light section, as the number one and two grades run very 
fluid and soft, the lower grades have a tendency to chill. A mix- 
ture of them with a white iron produces a very satisfactory chill, 
although not considered to be so hard or possess wearing proper- 
ties equal to the cold blast iron. 

Hot blast charcoal iron at one time was the leading iron 
for light soft castings, and there was a number of famous brands 
of this iron, among them the hanging rock brand, made in the 
Ohio Hanging Rock District, on the Ohio River, above Cincin- 
nati. This iron commanded a good price and even after the 
second growth timber in this district became exhausted for char- 
coal making, charcoal was hauled many miles from Virginia by 
six-ox team and the furnaces kept in blast. But this supply too 
became exhausted and the furnaces were forced out of blast. 

This iron, like the other famous brands, has now almoit 
entirely disappeared from the market and our supply of hot 
blast charcoal iron at the present time comes from isolated dis- 



trft IRONS 7 

tricts where wood for charcoal making is plentiful. The supply 
of this iron is very limited. But as the present generation of 
foundrymen know but little about the superior qualities of this 
iron as a foundry iron, the demand for it is also limited. Hot 
blast charcoal is generally considered the very best iron for soft, 
strong castings. Cold blast charcoal iron is the best strong 
chilling iron. Next to these for foundry work is the anthracite 
and coke irons, which dififer in their characteristics to some 
extent, dependent upon the per cent of sulphur and other 
impurities the smelting fuel may contain. But in all cases, the 
selection of the ore has more to do with the quality of the iron, 
than the smelting fuel. 

Iron ores are smelted in -blast furnaces and the iron cast 
direct from the furnace into bars, which are designated pig-iron. 
This iron is the crudest form of commercial iron we have to 
deal with, for it has not been refined in the process of smelting 
but merely separated or extracted from its ore, and contains 
many of the impurities of the ore and may also have taken up 
impurities from the smelting fuel. The presence of the more 
volatile of these impurities in the pig, is no great detriment to 
the iron when manufactured into steel or wrought iron, for they 
are burned out in the process of making these metals, but in 
foundry irons they are of great importance, for they give to the 
iron the various characteristics that fit it for light and heavy 
castings, soft or hard castings, chilled castings, strong castings, 
etc. And the efifect of these impurities or metalloids upon the 
iron, should be carefully studied by the founder, that by increas- 
ing or decreasing the various metalloids in his mixture, he may 
be able to produce an iron of a desired quality for his casting. 

These impurities in pig-iron are termed elements or metal- 
loids, and by increasing a softening metalloid in a mixture, a 
softer iron is obtained and by decreasing it a harder iron is 
obtained. The same effect is produced by a fluidity giver, or 
strengthener and a more fluid or stronger iron is obtained, by 
increasing these metalloids in a mixture. 

A desired per cent of any metalloid in a mixture may be 
obtained by using pig containing a higher or lower per cent of 
the metalloid or by placing an increased or decreased per cent of 
the same pig, in the mixture. 

Warm Blast Charcoal Pig. < 

This iron is smelted principally in the Lake Superior iron 
ore districts with by-product charcoal and a blast heated to from 



8 PIG IRONS 

500 to 900 deg. Fah. This iron is graded by analysis and pre- 
sents fourteen different grades which are designated as follows : 
A — Scotch, B — Scotch, C — Scotch, Low No. 1, High No. 1, 
Low No. 2, High No. 2, Low No. 3, High No. 3, Low No. 4 
and High No. 4, Low No. 5 and High No. 5 and No. 6. 

The maximum silicon in the A Scotch is 2.62 and in the No. 
6 .05. The grading is made by the silicon from the A Scotch, 
which is a very soft iron, down to the No. 6, which is a white 
iron. The other metalloids in this iron are Phosphorus, .15,-.23, 
Manganese .30-. 70. Sulphur, trace to .018. 

The fine grading of this iron is probably more theoretical 
than practical owing to the enormous amount of labor and 
expense of such accurate grading and the iron generally shipped 
to suit the work for which it is designed. 

This iron is used in this section of the country for soft and 
general run of castings, and is also used in this and other sections 
for car wheel, chilled rolls and other close or hard castings. But 
it does not appear to possess all the fine qualities of the old cold 
or hot blast charcoal iron, which is probably due to some essential 
element being extracted from the charcoal in a by-product 
process of making. 

The softer grades of this iron are being quite extensively 
used for general lines of castings, by foundrymen in North- 
western Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, where it can be 
delivered in the yard at about the same price as coke irons of 
the same qualities. 

Some of the foundrymen did not speak very highly of this 
iron at my last visit to this section and stated that they preferred 
coke iron at the same price for soft castings. 

Gun Metal Pig. 

Gun metal iron was a name given to their iron by charcoal 
furnace men making an extra strong iron, suitable for cannon, in 
the days of cast iron cannon. 

With the disappearance of charcoal iron and the introduc- 
tion of anthracite and coke iron, charcoal gun metal disappeared 
and foundrymen endeavored to reproduce it from mixtures of 
the stronger brand or grades of anthracite and coke irons, 
melted together and cast into pigs to be remelted for castings. 

This pig was given the name of gun metal pig, and the 
foundry making and using it the name of The Gun Metal 



Foundry, which was designed to indicate that the foundry used 
a very strong iron, and made a superior grade of castings. 

With a more perfect knowledge of anthracite and coke irons, 
it was found that equally as strong an iron or casting could be 
made by casting the iron direct and the expense of remelting the 
gun metal pig saved. This plan has been so generally adopted 
that there are only a very few of the gun metal foundries to be 
found, and these cast the greater part of their casting direct from 
the cupola mixture, using only the remelt gun metal pig for 
special large or heavy casting, required to be very strong and for 
which an extra charge is made for the gun metal pig. 

Anthracite Pig. 

With the disappearance of the forests for charcoal making 
and the opening of the anthracite coal mines in 1820, anthracite 
blast furnaces began to replace the charcoal furnaces, and to pro- 
duce a pig iron designated anthracite iron or anthracite pig. 

This iron was cast in shorter and thicker pigs than the char- 
coal pig, but weighed about the same per pig. The iron was not 
so strong as the charcoal iron, and the pigs did not require to be 
notched for breaking. Itj possessed the same characteristics as 
charcoal iron in everything except strength, but was not so 
deficient in strength as to render it worthless as a foundry iron. 

Anthracite iron was graded by fracture indications from 
No. 1 to No 4, the same as charcoal iron was graded at that 
time. Foundrymen soon learned by mixing the different grades, 
to produce a casting of any desired degree of softness or hard- 
ness, having sufficient strength for the purpose for which the 
casting was designed, and this iron became the leading foundry 
iron for all that section of the country lying east of the Alle- 
gheny Mountains, including the New England States. 

The anthracite furnaces were all small furnaces, although 
generally much larger than the charcoal furnaces. Anthracite 
coal was a slow smelter even with the hot blast, and the output 
of iron was small in proportion to the capital invested and labor 
required, and after the improvements made in coke making and 
its introduction into the eastern section, where anthracite iron 
was principally madv^, this fuel was found to be a more rapid 
smelter than the anthracite coal and greatly increased the output 
of iron from these small furnaces and was generally adopted by 
anthracite furnacemen as their fuel, even in the anthracite coal 
fields, where coal was cheap. So that anthracite iron has prac- 



16 PIO tROMS 

tically become extinct, although there are still a few furnaces 
jsing a mixed fuel of coke and coal, whose product is called 
anthracite iron. 



Coke Pig. 

Coke pig, as the name indicates, is an iron smelted with 
cpke fuel. These furnaces are the largest of any of the blast 
furnaces, and are still blown with a hot blast, which together with 
the rapid smelting coke, smelts the ore very rapidly, and the 
output of pig from some of these furnaces is as high as five 
hundred tons in twenty-four hours. 

Coke iron is the principal iron used by foundrymen at the 
present time and probably as high as ninety-five per cent of all 
the pig-iron melted in iron foundries for various lines of castings 
is coke pig. 

This iron presents more varied characteristics than any of 
the pig irons, which is probably due to the rapidity with which it 
is smelted, and various elements or metalloids contained in the 
ore not being removed from the iron in the process of smelting. 
These elements or metalloids are very detrimental to the iron for 
certain lines of castings, and highly beneficial for other lines, as 
they impart softness, hardness, strength, chilling properties, 
annealing properties, etc., to the iron, and fit it for every line of 
castings made. 

That the founder m.ay become a practical metallurgist and 
mixer of iron it is necessary that he should learn the effect of the 
various elements upon the iron, and by manipulating the elements 
or metalloids found in the iron, be able to produce, from a 
mixture of iron, an iron of a desired quality, even when this 
quality is not possessed by any one of the pigs placed in the 
mixture. 

This (proposition may seemf absurd to foundrymen not 
familiar with the metallurgy of cast iron, but these results are 
obtained in foundries every day, with a certainty, by practical 
metallurgists and by chance or knowledge of the irons gained in 
melting them by many founders not familiar with the chemistry 
of foundry iron. 

The efifect of the various metalloids in iron and their manipu- 
lation in mixtures will be found fully described in other parts of 



MQ IRONS ii 

this work, and should be carefully studied by the student, that he 
may become an expert in the manipulation of foundry irons. 

Silver Grey Pig. 

This was a name given to an iron that was only occasionally 
smelted from certain ores when the furnace was working very 
hot and was first called a burned iron, due to the weakness of 
the iron in the pig, as compared with other pig of the furnace. 

It was discovered by some small founders, who were given 
this iron for hauling it away, that it was a very decided softener 
of scrap and hard iron. This discovery created a market for it, 
and it was given the name of Silver Grey Iron, due to its fine 
crystalline structure and silvery grey color of the fresh fracture. 
There was only one grade of this iron, although it frequently 
differed widely in its softening properties. This was no doubt 
due to the difficulty in determining a high or low softener from 
the crystalline structure or shade of color in the fresh fracture. 

With the introduction of the chemistry of foundry irons, 
this iron was found to be a very high silicon iron, it was then 
given the name of high silicon pig or softener pig, and is now 
regularly smelted from ore containing a high per cent of silicon. 
There are large deposits of such ore in some of the Southern 
States, from which our principal supply of such iron is obtained 
and in some sections of the north it is designated Southern 
Softener Pig, and also Ferro-silicon Pig. 

Above three per cent silicon, this iron is designated high 
Silicon, and according to the scale of prices, arranged by the 
American Foundrymen's Association, for the sale of pig by 
analysis, each per cent of silicon above three per cent is to be 
charged for extra at the rate of twenty-five cents per ton of iron, 
but this rule is not always strictly adhered to, as there is an 
abundance of this iron and furnacemen are frequently willing to 
sell it at any price. It can frequently be, purchased in Boston 
and other seaports, far below the price of Northern two to three 
per cent silicon strong iron. 

This iron is a very weak iron above three per cent silicon, 
and the higher the silicon the weaker it gets. As high as twelve 
per cent silicon pig is now being used, with only its remelt, in acid 
resisting castings. These castings are so weak that they have to 
be handled with care and packed in excelsior when shipped, to 
avoid breaking. This is about the highest per cent silicon iron 



12 Ma IROM^ 

than can be cast. Above this point the iron rapidly loses its 
characteristics as iron and becomes ferro-silicon. 



Southern Pig. 

This iron is frequently called Southern softener and is gen- 
erally understood to be a high silicon iron, but this is not always 
the case, for as will be seen by the analysis, in the classification 
and grading of pig iron, Southern irons run as low as 1.25 silicon, 
which does not indicate a very soft iron. 

There is an impression prevailing among many Northern 
f oundrymen that all Southern irons are high silicon weak iron ; 
this is a mistake, for there are as hard and strong irons made in 
the Southern States as in the Northern States, and there are 
many car wheel foundries in the south using exclusively southern 
iron, and steel plants using southern iron exclusively. 

High freight rates prevent the better grades of southern 
irons being shipped north and coming in competition with 
Northern irons. It is only the surplus of high silicon weak irons, 
for which there is no home market, and a demand for some in 
the North as a softener of Northern irons, that are shipped Nortli. 
A shipment of stronger and harder irons may be made as ballast 
from some of the Southern seaports at any time. In order- 
ing Southern irons to be used as a softener, it should always be 
designated Southern softener, or the per cent, of silicon desired 
in the iron stated. 

Southern softener is a very similar iron to the Northern iron 
formerly called Silver Grey, and is sometimes designated South- 
ern Silvery Iron. 

Silvery Irons run from about three and a half to five and 
a half per cent of silicon. This class of iron is sometimes divided 
into No. 1 Silvery, which is the higher silicon, and No. 2 Silvery, 
the lower. 



Scotch Pig. 

Scotch pig is the common name by which numerous brands 
of pig iron imported from Scotland are known in this country. 

Fifty to sixty years ago this iron was extensively used in 
this country as a foundry iron. It was about this time that 
anthracite and coke irons were rapidly replacing charcoal irons, 
and these irons frequently run hard in the castings of light sec- 



PIG IRONS 13 

tions and Scotch pig, which was an extremely soft rotten iron, 
was used as a softener and also alone for very light castings. 

At that time the better brands of this iron were in demand, 
and sold at from one to two dollars per ton higher than American 
irons and were imported in large quantities. With the improve- 
ment made in the manufacture of coke and in blast furnace prac- 
tice, and a more thorough knowledge of the iron ores from which 
the iron was smelted, our furnacemen were able to produce an 
equally soft iron of superior strength to that of Scotch pig; this 
reduced the price of Scotch pig of the better brands, to a point 
at which it could not be imported and sold at a profit, and only 
the inferior brands or off-irons were imported. These irons run 
so dirty that they could not be used for finished castings, to any 
extent, even in mixtures of American irons. About the only 
. Scotch pig used in this country at the present time is cheap 
inferior brands that come into seaport towns and cities as ballast, 
and is purchased by foundrymen at a low price, for common 
castings. 

American Scotch Pig. 

Scotch pig was so popular among foundries that furnace- 
men in this country, w4ien able, made a very soft iron having a 
fracture similar to that of Scotch pig and gave it the name of 
American Scotch Pig. 

• ■ One ot the furnaces that did this and still retains the name to 
some extent, was the Cherry Valley furnace in Ohio. This iron 
was smelted principally from Black Brand Ore and was equally 
as soft and of far greater strength than the best brand of Scotch 
pig and soon replaced the genuine Scotch in many localities and 
is still a very popular brand, although more generally known at 
the present time as Cherry \^alley Pig. . 

There were many other brands of American Scotch at that 
time, in different sections of the country, that obtained a high 
reputation and are still in the market as foundry irons, but as 
Scotch Pig is not in demand to the extent that it was some years 
ago, and its high reputation has been lost, furnacemen have 
generally dropped the term American Scotch and the irons are 
known only by their local or furnace name. 

Iron designated Scotch, by some furnaces, means a very 
soft iron containing three per cent silicon or over. 

Kish In Iron. 

Kish is the name given by founders to a soft flaky substance, 
resembling black lead, that is forced out of a very soft iron, when 



14 PIG IRONS 

in a molten state and when cooling. In casting- it runs before 
the iron in the mold, and causes rounded edges and corners, 
similar to those made by blacking dusted on too heavy, and 
washed before the iron. In heavy castings it collects upon the 
surface in spots and around the edges, it adheres firmly to the 
castings, but is soft and easily broken ofif, leaving a smooth sur- 
face. Kish is only found in very soft iron, in which the soft- 
ness is due to graphite or free carbon and comes from an excess 
of this element in the iron. Kish was very abundant in Scotch 
iron and was one of the objectionable features in this iron. It is 
not found in foundry irons used at the present time to the same 
extent. It was in those used some years ago and many of the 
younger founders have probably never heard the term Kish. 

Bessemer Pig. 

Standard Bessemer iron is used principally for making acid 
bessemer steel, the standard specifications for this iron are as 
follows : Silicon 1 to 2 per cent., phosphorus not over 0.10, sul- 
phur not over 0.05. 

This iron, when a little off in the above analysis, is sold as 
Foundry Bessemer, and when the analysis for the line of casting 
is right is an excellent foundry iron. 

Basic Pig. 

Basic pig iron means primarily a low silicon iron, the standard 
for this grade having silicon under 1 per cent and sulphur under 
.050 per cent. 

This iron is used principally for steel making, and is too 
hard for any but specially hard castings, and is not used to any 
extent by grey iron founders. 

Malleable Bessemer or Malleable Pig. 

This pig is used for the manufacture of malleable castings, 
the usual specification for it is, phosphorus, not over 0.20, sul- 
phur not over 0.05. Silicon as specified to suit the thickness of 
section of work to be cast, usually 0.75 to 1.25, or 1.25 to 1.75. 
Manganese runs as high as 2 per cent, in this iron. 

This iron is designed to run white in castings to be annealed 
for malleables, and is not at all suitable for grey iron castings, 
designed to be soft. 

Spiegel, Spiegcl-Eisen or Mirror Iron. 

This is a high manganese iron containing 10 to 40 per cent, 
manganese and it may be obtained at any point between these 



I>IG IRONS 15 

two points, with carbon about 1.25, phosphorus 0.07, sulphur 
.00, silicon 0.15. 

This iron is an extremely hard iron and, owing to its low 
carbon, is deficient in fluidity and difficult to cast in light castings. 
It is a steel-making iron and only occasionally used by car wheel 
founders for the chilling effect of its high manganese. 

The present shortage in this country of manganese and its 
high price, which a short time ago reached five hundred and 
twenty-five dollars per ton, has caused users of it to cast about for 
a substitute, or for other sources from which to obtain it than 
from the manufacturers of manganese, ferro-manganese, and 
ores of manganese. Spiegel-Eisen was one of the first to be seized 
upon, and many steel founders, car wheel foundries, and others 
have found good, reliable Spiegel-Eisen to give as good results 
as an increaser of depth of chill and strengthener of cast iron as 
manganese or ferro-manganese, and at the present time it is being 
quite extensively used in mixtures of both steel and iron for 
castings, and its use has very materially reduced the price of both 
, manganese and ferro-manganese. 

In using this metal it is broken into small pieces and mixed 
with the iron in charging, or may be heated to a high tempera- 
ture in the forge or other furnace and placed in the ladle of 
molten iron, to be melted and mixed with the iron, 

Mayari Pig. 

This is a comparatively new foundry iron that has only been 
on the market for a few years. It is smelted by The Bethlehem 
Steel Co., from a Cuban ore mined in the Mayari Mountains of 
Cuba. Two grades of the iron are made. One from Mayari ore 
alone, and one from a mixture of Mayari and Cuban hard ore. 

This iron shows about the following analysis : 

Iron 50 per cent. Mayari and 50 per cent Cuban hard ore. 
Sil. Phos. Sul. Man. Chromium Nickel 

0.45 0.050 0.030 0.65 1.75 0.76 

Iron 100 per cent. Mayari. 
Sil. Phos. Sul. Man. Chromium Nickel 

0.85 0.950 0.022 0.90 2.90 1.52 

There is also present in this iron a small percentage of van- 
adium and some titanium. 



16 PIG IRONS 

Mayari iron is a very hard, strong iron, and is being quite 
extensively used for rolls of various kinds and also for other 
castings requiring hardness and strength. It may be melted 
alone, or in mixtures with other pig or scrap, and is recommended 
to replace cold blast charcoal iron in mixtures. Ten per cent, in 
a mixture is said to increase both the tensile and transverse 
strength to a marked extent. 

Mayari iron is not at all suitable for soft castings, and should 
only be used for castings designed to be hard or very close. 

Other Pig Irons. 

The irons just described represent the general characteristics 
in irons named in market quotations, but there are many other 
pig irons having distinct characteristics that make them suitable 
for certain lines of castings than other iron. The sale of these 
irons is generally confined to local districts and seldom named 
in market quotations. 

When a special iron is required for a line of casting, a good 
plan is to consult the nearest pig iron broker, stating just what 
is wanted, and by so doing a suitable pig iron for any line of 
castings can generally be obtained; if it cannot, then resort must 
be had to a mixture that will give the desired iron. 



Method of Casting Pig Iron 

CHAPTER II. 

Iron, when smelted from its ores in a blast furnace, is known 
as cast iron, and when drawn from the furnace and cast into 
short bars, or slabs, is designated pig iron. 

For many years all pig iron was cast in open sand moulds 
in the floor of the casting house, and all iron cast in this way 
was known as pig, or pig iron. But since .the introduction of new 
methods of casting the term pig iron has become general, and 
the pig is now designated by the manner of casting, as sand pig, 
chilled pig, sandless pig, machined cast pig, etc. 

Sand Pig. 

Probably ever since the beginning of the manufacture of 
pig iron it has been cast in open sand moulds in the floor of the 
furnace casting house. In preparing the moulds, perfectly level 
beds of sand are made and in these the pigs are moulded, a suffi- 
cient distance apart to prevent the sand between them from being 
washed or forced away by the pressure of the molten iron and the 
pigs from running together. At the end of each row or bed of 
pig, a perfectly level runner, or sow pig as it is called, is moulded. 
This sow pig is connected with the end of each pig, and one end 
of it is connected with an inclined runner constructed of sand 
from the tao hole of the furnace. Through this runner the iron 
is permitted to flow first to the pig bed, at the greatest distance 
from the furnace ; when the moulds in this bed are filled, an iron 
gate or spade coated with clay is forced into the sand of the 
runner in such a way as to stop off the flow of metal, and another 
opening is made in the side of the runner by removing a shovel- 



18 METHOD OF CASTING PlG IRON 

ful of sand, which permits iron to flow into the sow of the next 
pig bed. When this one is filled, the runner is again shut ofif at the 
next sow, and another opening made, and so on till all the iron in 
the furnace is cast. 

The moulds are open sand moulds upon which no facing or 
blackening is used, and the pigs are heavily coated with sand 
burned on to them by the molten iron. This pig is now designated 
sand pig ; the pigs are generally broken in the middle to show the 
quality of iron in fracture and for convenience in handling and 
shipping. 

Chill Cast Pig. 

The sand moulds above described required considerable labor 
to prepare them for each cast, and to save this expense, many 
furnacemen adopted a cast-iron permanent mould. 

These moulds were cast in blocks of four to six pigs in a 
block with a sow pig attached and imbedded in the floor of the 
casting house. A sufficient number of them being placed side by 
side to give the desired length of bed or number of pigs in each 
pig bed. The molten iron flows through a sand runner from the 
furnace and the moulds or chills were filled in the same way as 
the sand moulds. 

This method of casting had a chilling effect upon the iron 
which was very marked on the lower or harder grades of iron, 
due to the sudden cooling of the iron, which retained the carbon 
in a combined state when cold. This chill, whether light or heavy, 
gave foundrymen the impression that it was a hard iron, and it 
was seldom used by founders making light castings, and never 
became popular with foundrym.en making any kind of casting, 
although it was a sandless pig and the chilled effect entirely dis- 
appeared when melted. 

Very few of the furnaces making;' foundry iron adopted this 
method of casting, and it was principally furnaces making mill 
iron that used it. With the disappearance of the rolling mills, 
chill cast pig has almost entirely disappeared from the iron 
market. 

Sandless, or Machine Cast Pig. 

With the introduction of blast furnace and foundry chem- 
istry, it was discovered that iron cast in chill or sand moulds 
was not of an even quality throughout the pig, and often through- 



METHOD OF CASTING PIG IRON 19 

out the cast analysis showed different qualities of iron in different 
parts of the same cast, and in opposite ends of the same pig. This 
unevenness in the quality of the product was attributed to iron 
smelted from different ores, not having been thoroughly mixed 
before casting. To overcome this difficulty and produce an even 
grade of iron, a plan for mixing the iron before casting was de- 
vised. This was done by drawing the iron from the furnace into a 
large ladle capable of holding the cast to mix it before casting. 
From this ladle it is poured directly into the pig moulds, that are 
only about one-half the length of the ordinary sand pig. The 
moulds for these pigs are made of thin wrought iron, or soft steel, 
so they may be quickly heated by the molten metal. The chilling 
tendency upon the iron is thus greatly reduced and far less than 
that of the heavy chill used in chilling cast pig, and to still further 
reduce the chilling tendency they are coated with a carbon deposit 
or silicon wash. 

These moulds are placed upon a revolving table upon which 
they are brought under the ladle to be filled and removed, to be 
emptied when the iron has sufficiently cooled to admit of this 
being done. They have also been placed upon traveling endless 
chains which carry them under the ladle to be filled and to any 
distance desired from the furnace, to be dumped into the yard 
or upon iron cars for shipment. This mode of casting being thus 
not only a labor-saving device in moulding the pigs, but also in 
removing the iron from the casting house. 

Since the introduction of sandless pig into foundry practice, 
extravagant claims have been made for its superiority over sand 
and chilled cast pig as a foundry iron. This pig is generally cooled 
to a considerable extent by water thrown upon it, and shows a 
closer iron than sand pig of the same grade, and while an analy- 
sis of the iron has shown a more even quality throughout the pig 
and cast, this is probably due more to the even temperature at 
which it is cast, and the manner of cooling it, than to mixing it 
in a ladle before casting. 

The extravagant claims made for the superiority of sandless 
pig do not appear to have been realized, for no better castings 
have been made from it, than from either of the other pigs when 
properly mixed and melted. All cast iron assumes its normal 
state when melted, and the chill on chilled cast pig, the closeness 
of sand pig at the tail end, all disappear when the iron is melted 
and do not appear again in it except from the causes that origi- 
nally produced them in the pig. The manner of casting is there- 
fore a matter of furnace practice, and has nothing to do with the 
quality of pig iron. It does not change its quality any more than 



20 METHOD OF CASTING PIG I RON 

the shape of a casting and the manner of casting changes an iron 
when cast in a foundry. Foundrymen, therefore, should select 
their iron by quality and not by the shape nor mode of casting 
the pig. This may now be done by analysis, and an iron of a 
desired quality be thus obtained with more certainty than judging 
from the appearance of the iron. 

A higher per cent, of iron is obtained from sandless pig 
than from sand cast pig, but this gain has been found to be so 
small that no higher price should be paid for it on this account. 

This pig is quoted in the iron market report as both sandless 
pig and machine cast pig in different sections. But they are both 
the same pig. 

Fracture Grading of Pig Iron. 

In blast furnace practice the quality of the fuel, settling of 
the stock, atmospheric changes, etc., causes the furnace to work 
hot or cold, to such an extent that it changes the character of the 
iron smelted from the same qualities of ores and fuel, and makes 
grading of the iron of different casts, and sometimes of the same 
cast, necessary. 

This grading has been done properly, since the beginning of 
blast furnace smelting, by taking a few pigs selected from different 
parts of the cast and breaking them in the middle when cold, 
and judging the quality of iron by its color and the size and shape 
of the crystals in the crystalline structure of the fresh fracture. 
This method of grading answered the purpose of furnacemen 
and foundrymen probably for hundreds of years, but with the 
introduction of foundry and blast furnace chemistry, analysis 
was found to more accurately indicate the quality of the iron 
than fracture indications. 

This new method of grading has quite generally been 
adopted by furnacemen in the grading of iron, but pig is still 
quoted in market quotations by number, as in fracture grading, 
and a very large per cent, of foundry irons are still sold by 
number, but analysis indicates the number, in place of fracture 
indications. 

This method covers the ground very thoroughly in grading 
for pig iron, and enables the furnacemen to deliver iron with 
more certainty as to quality than from fracture sfrading, but it 
does not cover the ground so thoroughly for foundrymen. for it is 
not practical for the foundrymen to have every pile of pig ana- 
lyzed, and without a knowledge of fracture indications, be as 



METHOD OF CASTING PIG IRON 21 

liable to charge a white pig for soft castings, and a number one 
soft pig for hard castings, if any mistake is made in the pihng 
of the pig in the yard or upon the scaffold ; nor is it practical 
to wait for analysis of castings, gates, or scrap, to determine tne 
quality of the iron in a mixture. These are matters that must be 
decided off-hand in order to keep the plant running, and fracture 
indication is the most practical way of doing this. 

Fracture Indications of Coke and Anthracite Iron, 

In fracture grading of pig iron, the points to be looked for in 
the fresh fracture are, size and shape of the crystals, color of the 
fresh fracture, breaking, separation of graphite flakes in break- 
ing, white edges in the fracture, etc. 

The indication of a soft northern No. 1 pig, sand cast, are 
a large crystal, of a dark bluish color._ f.rom which small flakes 
of graphite may sometimes be seen to separate when broken. This 
indicates a soft, strong iron for casting of light section, but too 
open, porous and weak for castings of heavy section. 

A large crystal of a light or silvery color also indicates a 
soft or weak iron, unsuitable for heavy casting. This color of 
crystalline structure is due to a high silicon or silicon having 
assumed a different form than found in the crystalline structure 
of darker iron, and light colored crystals are found in a few of 
the Northern No. 1 irons, but are more common in the Southern 
irons. 

These irons are only melted alone or with their remelt, for 
castings of very light section, and even for stove plate they are 
generally mixed with a lower grade of pig iron or scrap iron, 
and are regarded as softeners. 

No. 2 pig of both Northern and Southern irons present a 
similar fracture to those of No. 1, but the crystals are smaller 
and have a more compact appearance. No. 2 iron is classed as a 
soft iron, but a shade harder than No. 1, and a stronger iron. 
These two grades are frequently quoted as No. 1 and No. 1 X, 
No. 2 and No. 2 X. This nvjans that the X iron is a shade harder 
than the plain No. 

These two grades are the principal iron used for soft cast- 
ings, of light and medium section. An increase of the No. 1 in 
mixtures gives a softer iron, and an increase of No. 2, a closer 
and a stronger iron, and when a still closer iron is desired, scrap 
is added to the mixture. ^ , 



22 k^THOD OP CASTING PIG IROlt 

No. 3 pig has a still smaller crystalline structure than No. 2, 
and in some cases has a white thread-like streak winding through 
the crystals ; it is then termed a mottled iron. This iron is readily 
chilled by damp moulding sand, and runs hard in castings of 
light section, but runs sufficiently soft in heavy castings for 
machining, and is principally used in mixtures for heavy cast- 
ings as a strengthener, and making a close iron. 

No. 4 pig is a very heavily mottled or white iron, having 
very little crystalline structure perceptible to the naked eye. This 
iron runs very hard, and is only used by foundrymen for hard 
castings or in mixtures to give chilling properties or closeness to 
the iron. 

These four grades represented the standard grades for many 
years. A few years before the introduction of foundry chemistry 
they were increased to seven grades by number, or letter, but these 
were only subdivisions of the former four grades that required 
an expert grader to determine, and little attention was given 
to them by founders using anthracite or coke irons exclusively. 

A spotted fracture, that is, a close spot in open iron, indi- 
cates an unreliable iron that may run hard or soft. These spots, 
or small crystals, have been attributed to melting mill cinder with 
the ores, but the rolling mills have nearly all gone out of exist- 
ence, and these spots, when found, are now probably due to an 
ore in the mixture that does not mix with iron from the other 
ores when smelted. The spots generally disappear when the iron 
is remelted, but their efifect may be to harden the iron. This can 
only be determined by melting the iron. 

These instructions apply principally to the coke irons the 
foundries are most commonly using, and a careful study should 
be made of them and their application to the iron in the yard, 
that no mistake may be made in charging and melting an unsuit- 
able iron for the work to be cast. 

A white chilled-like edge of iron around a sand cast pig indi- 
cates the iron will run hard in light castings when remelted. The 
white edge around chilled and machine cast pig of an open iron 
disappears when remelted and does not again appear in the 
casting. 

Cold Blast Charcoal Iron Fractures. 

The fracture indications of charcoal pig differ somewhat 
from those of coke pig, the crystals are longer and sharp pointed, 
while those of coke iron are more of a diamond shape and flatter. 



METHOD OF CASTING PIG IRON 23 

The color is always of a dark blue cast in the soft pig. The long, 
sharp crystals are an indication of strength, and the pigs are very 
difficult to break and frequently bend to a considerable extent 
from sledging before breaking. Small fragments may frequently 
be found drawn away from the iron but still clinging to the frac- 
ture ; this indicates a very strong iron. 

Cold blast charcoal iron is graded up to No. 7. This was 
done to enable malleable iron founders, car wheel founders, and 
others making hard or chilled castings to obtain exactly the degree 
of hardness they desired. 

The No. 1 pig is a soft, strong iron, and has a long, sharp 
pointed crystal of a dark bluish color, and runs soft. In early 
days stoveplate and hoUowware were cast of this iron direct from 
the blast furnace. 

No. 2 has the same shaped crystal, but not so long or large. 
This pig has a strong tendency to chill and runs very hard in 
castings of light section. 

No. 3 has a still smaller and sharper crystal than No. 2, is a 
very strong iron and runs hard in moderately heavy castings. 

No. 4 is a mottled iron, light spots and lines like threads 
may be seen winding through the crystals, and from some fur- 
naces it is a white iron. This iron, and also the No. 3, is princi- 
pally used in mixtures to give closeness, or chill to the other 
two grades of soft iron. 

The other three grades are all white irons, of different 
degrees of hardness, which is indicated by small crystals and dif- 
ferent shades of color, which can only be noticed by comparison 
of fracture in grading. These three grades are used principally by 
founders in tempering the softer grades for malleables, car 
wheels, etc. 

Hot Blast Charcoal Fracture. 

The fracture indications of hot blast charcoal iron are very 
similar to those of the cold blast iron, with a long, sharp pointed 
crystal, indicating strength, the longer and larger ones indicating 
a No. 1 soft iron, and smaller ones a closer or No. 2 iron ; while 
the still smaller crystals and white iron indicate a hard iron. 
This iron is only graded up to No. 4, which is a white iron. 

Warm Blast Charcoal Fracture. ^ 

This iron has fourteen different gradings, and it would be 
very difficult to describe the distinct characteristics of the various 



24 m:^TI*hod of casting pig iRoiJ 

grades in an intelligent way. The crystalline structure is very 
similar to that of hot blast charcoal, but not quite so pointed 
and sharp nor drawn out in the fracture. But the indications of 
the large and small crystalline structure are the same for softness 
and hardness as those of the other charcoal irons, which may be 
considered in the study of the fracture of this iron. 

Sandless Pig Fracture. 

Machine cast pig are generally thinner than sand cast. 
Changed from the molten to the solid state more rapidly, and 
sometimes cooled by water thrown upon them, thus causing a 
smaller crystalline structure than seen in sand cast pigs of the 
same quality ; but the change of structure from No. 1 to No. 4 
pig is the same as in other pigs, and it is only necessary to become 
familiar with the crystals of the No. 1 pig to be able to read the 
indications of the lower grade by following the indications given 
for the different grades of coke iron. 

Scotch Pig Fracture. 

Scotch pig, both American and foreign, has a very long crys- 
tal, and is what is termed an open iron. It may have either a 
dark bluish cast, or a silvery cast ; this is due to the form the 
silicon has assumed in the iron, and also to the higher or lower 
per cent, of silicon it may contain, but with either color it is a 
soft iron. 

American Scotch is generally a No. 1 soft open iron. This 
Jron is never graded below a No. 2 iron, as the term Scotch 
indicates a very soft open iron. 

Silver Grey Fractures. 

The fracture of a silver grey iron, and in fact all very high 
silicon iron, is of a silvery grey color, with a crystalline structure 
in which the crystals are larger in a lower silicon silver grey iron 
than in a higher. As the silicon increases the crystals grow smaller, 
until they almost disappear and the fracture is of a smooth, 
silvery grey appearance. This iron is very weak and very soft, 
although it has the appearance to some extent of a white hard 
iron. 

The crystalline structure of these two irons is very similar 
in appearance to the naked eye, but under the glass they appear 
different. The main points of distinction in these two irons are 



kfi;THOD OP CASTING PIG IRON ')5 

the silvery grey of the soft iron, and the white or mottled color 
of the hard iron. 

Speigel-Eisen Fracture. 

The fresh fracture of this iron shows cubes and plates, 
rather than crystals, and has a bright silvery mirror-like appear- 
ance. This iron is also indicated by its shape, as it is not cast in 
pigs of the shapdi of either coke or charcoal iron, but in slabs 
generally two to three inches in thickness, and eight to ten 
inches wide. 

Other Pig Fractures. 

Bessemer and basic pig have a very similar fracture to that 
of coke iron heretofore described. Malleable bessemer or malle- 
able pig also have a coke iron fracture, but only the harder grades 
of this iron are used for malleables. 



Scrap Irons 

CHAPTER III. 

Iron that has been cast into various shapes and forms, 
which are no longer wanted for the purpose for which they were 
cast, is designated scrap iron, or cast scrap. This iron, unlike pig 
iron, is not graded by fracture or analysis, but is classified as 
machinery, car wheel, stove plate, plow points, burned iron, 
drillings, turnings, malleable, steel, promiscuous scrap, etc. This 
classification is designed to take the place of grading, and indi- 
cates the quality of iron from which the castings were made and 
the grade of iron that may be found when remelted. It also 
indicates changes that have been effected in the iron after casting, 
in the process of finishing, or by the use to which the castings 
have been put before becoming scrap. 

Machinery Scrap. 

Machinery scrap is commonly classed as the very best grade 
of scrap, and this is the case so far as the iron is concerned, for 
it is cast from the best of iron for the purpose to which it is to 
be put, and no change is effected in the quality of the iron, in 
finishing the costing or by the use to which it has been subjected 
ifter finishing, and the same quality of iron is therefore to be 
found in this scrap as in the casting when cast. 

But there is a wide variation in the character of iron requireu 
for different machines, and often for parts of the same machine, 
such as engine cylinders, gear wheels, etc., which are cast from 
rather close hard iron, that would run hard in light castings when 
remelted. Then there are parts of other machines, such as augers 
and jaws of clay and brick machinery; grinding disks of cement 



tnachinery; crusher jaws, etc., which are cast of a white iron, so 
that while the iron in machinery scrap is as good as when cast, 
it represents a number of grades of iron and cannot be classed 
as a soft scrap or iron — neither can it be classed as a hard iron. 
This fact is recognized by stove founders and others making 
exclusively soft castings, and machinery scrap is not sought for 
by them. It is therefore necessary to sort this scrap before placing 
it upon the scaffold for charging, if an iron of a desired quality 
is to be obtained from it. Sorting may be done by indication of 
fracture, or by shape of the piece of scrap, and a knowledge of 
the quality of the iron from which such castings are made. 

Machinery scrap is generally regarded as the very best; of 
cast scrap for general foundry castings, and always commands 
the highest price. In some cases, when very select, it sells at even 
a higher price than a good grade of pig iron ; this is due to the 
theory that a mixture of iron produces a better casting than any 
one iron, and by the use of scrap an endless number of irons 
may be obtained in the mixture and a superior casting produced. 
This is the theory and practice of many of the large engine works, 
and some of them would not make an important casting without 
machinery scrap in their mixture. 

Car WJieel Scrap. 

Car wheels are cast from a good grade of iron, which is not 
changed in finishing nor by the use to which the wheel is put 
before being scrapped. The iron in this scrap is therefore as good 
as when cast, and only a shade harder when remelted. 

This scrap is of value with the addition of a small per cent, 
of pig for recasting into wheels, and is vary largely used for this 
purpose, as the railroad companies, in contracting for wheels, 
almost invariably specify that a certain per cent, of old wheels 
are to be taken in part payment for new ones. It is also extensively 
used in mixtures for mine car wheels to give a chill on the tread 
of the wheel. This iron is a very strong iron, with a tendency 
to chill when cast against a cold chill, but not so hard as to chill 
when sand cast, and is used in mixtures for castings requiring 
strength and closeness, to impart these qualities to the iron. 

When placed upon the market, this scrap commands a good 
price, and sometimes sells higher than the price paid for new 
wheels, which, with the ordinary price of pig iron is only about 



one cent per pound and generally a half cent below the price 
paid for brake shoes by the railroad companies. 

5tove Plate Scrap. 

This scrap is cast from a very fluid, soft, strong iron for 
castings of light section. It is not injured in mounting and finish- 
ing, but in the use to which it is put, it is subjected to prolonged 
and repeated heating, and some of the parts, such as the grates, 
fire pot linings, covers, etc., are subjected to so great a heat as to 
competely destroy the iron, while the iron in other thin plates is 
injured by the fumes, gas, rust, etc., to an extent that makes it 
a! very poor iron when remelted, and owing to the large surface of 
this scrap exposed to oxidation in melting, the melting loss is 
fieavier than on any other grade of scrap, which makes it the 
poorest and cheapest grade of scrap the founder has to deal with. 

Only a limited amount of this scrap, taken in trade from their 
customers, is melted by stove plate founders, and even this is 
sometimes sold by them to other founders or junk men, as the 
desired quality of iron for plate is frequently not obtained 
from it. 

It is most commonly melted by founders making a class of 
castings such as brake shoes, sled runners, sewer castings, etc., 
designed to be close, and upon which there is but little finishing 
to be done. When melted for finished castings it should be sorted 
and the burned castings thrown out, and only a limited per cent, 
of the better scrap placed in a mixture. 

Plouf Point Scrap. 

Plow point scrap is generally cast from a hard iron with a 
tendency to chill, but not to chill to so great an extent as that 
of car wheel iron. This iron is not at all changed by the use to 
which it is put, and when remelted the resulting product is of 
the same quality, only a grade harder. This scrap is so widely 
distributed that it is only classified at foundry centers surrounded 
t)y a large farming district. It commands a fair price to remelt 
for this line of casting. 

This scrap is made from an excellent grade of iron, and 
may be melted with pig for any grade of close castings, but its 
tendency is to chill in very thin castings. This may be overcome 



SCRAP IRONS 29 

by melting with it a pig containing sufficient silicon to insure it 
running soft. 

Promiscuous Scrap. 

In all large cities and foundry centers, scrap is generally 
handled by junk or old iron dealers, who sort it and prepare it 
for the various grades previously described. When the character 
of the scrap is not clearly indicated by the shape of the castings, 
or there is not sufficient iron to market it separately, it is thrown 
into a pile that is designated promiscuous scrap. This scrap^ is 
generally small, of an inferior quality, and sells at a lower price 
than graded scrap. It is used by foundrymen for the class of 
castings upon which there is little finishing to be done, and in 
which the quality of iron is not of any great importance. 

In districts where the amount of scrap is limited, there is 
seldom sufficient of any one kind, collected by dealers, for sorting 
into car loads, or even wagon loads, and it is all sold together as 
promiscuous scrap. This is an entirely different scrap from that 
above described and may consist of heavy and light cast scrap, 
wrought iron, steel, malleables, etc. This scrap may be sorted 
by the founder in the yard, when loading for the scaffold and 
several grades obtained from it. At a small foundry in Mary- 
land, the foundryman was able to make castings from alrnost 
entirely selected scrap, that fil'ed all the requirements of a United 
States Government specification, and also to make soft castings 
with a limited amount of pig, and close or hard ones without the 
use of any pig. 

A knowledge of the analysis of the various lines of castings 
and characteristics of the iron may be gained from the analysi.s 
of castings to be found in this work, and when such a knowledge 
has been gained and the sorter becomes familiar with the shape 
of different lines of castings it is an easy matter for him_ to 
sor" from this scrap an iron suitable for almost any line of casting. 

Steel Casting Scrap. 

The manufacture and use of steel castings for a largevariety 
of purposes has become so extensive of late years that this scrap 
constitutes an important factor in promiscuous cast scrap for 
grey iron foundry castings. When separated from this scrap 
it is of no value whatever to the grey iron founder for melting 
alone, as it is only fit for sash weights when melted, and is diffi- 
cult to melt alone. Malleable scrap found in this scrap gives abouf 
the same results as steel scrap, when melted alone. 



30 SCRAP IRONS 

Steel and malleable scrap are very difficult to separate from 
prorniscuous cast scrap, as it is generally small, and frequently 
painted and can only be separated by breaking, until one becomes 
familiar with the shape of the steel castings commonly found. 
When separated, it may be melted for hard castings, or in the 
making of semi-steel, but for semi-steel this metal is not as 
reliable as the forged or rolled steel. 

When steel scrap is mixed with cast scrap to a considerable 
extent it has a hardening effect upon the latter, and when only a 
small per cent, is present it may cause hard or close spots in 
casting. I would not advise the use of promiscuous scrap con- 
taining steel in mixtures for finished castings, but a promiscuous 
scrap, containing both steel and malleable scrap, may be melted 
for common castings, and better results will be obtained in soft- 
nes ■ and evenness when a high silicon pig is melted with it. 

Malleable Scrap. 

Malleable scrap is a white hard iron when cast, that has 
been annealed by the malleable process of annealing, and con- 
verted into a malleable iron, which is a soft, strong iron, almost 
entirely devoid of carbon and resembles wrought iron in strength 
and ductility. 

This iron, when remelted in a cupola, does not retain the 
characteristics of malleable iron, but absorbs carbon from the 
fu 1 and returns to its original form before annealing — that of 
a white cast iron, with most all of its carbon in the combined 
state. This is the kind of iron that is obtained from malleable 
scrap when melted alone. When melted wnth soft scrap or pig, 
it has a hardening effect upon the soft iron, var3dng in degree 
with the quantity of malleable scrap used in the mixture with the 
soft iron. 

For many years grey iron founders carefully avoided pur- 
chasing this scrap, and when found in cast scrap threw it out. 
Malleable foundries also did not desire it in their mixture, and 
it was sold to rolling mills at a very low price to be melted in 
mixtures with wrought scrap for wrought iron, but of late year^ 
malleable founders have been melting it more freely in thtir 
mixtures, and since the introduction or discovery of hig^i silicon 
iron, founders do not object to a limited amount of it in th°ir 
scrap, except when castings are required to be a verv soft ir n, 
and then very carefully excluded it, as they do all other hard 
iron. 



SCRAP IRONS 31 

I have never learned of a heat being melted exclusively of 
this scrap, to determine its loss in melting. But as it absorbs 
carbon freely when melted with a silicon iron, the loss in melting 
is probably not very high, if any. 

Wrought Iron Scrap. 

Wrought iron scrap, when abundant, was quite extensively 
..bed by foundrymen in their mixtures as a strengthener of their 
iron, but of late years it has become so scarce that it is scarcely 
worth considering for this purpose. 

Patents were taken out in England in 1846, by Mr. Sterling, 
for toughening cast iron by adding wrought iron to it in melting. 
In his experimental work he found that the per cent, of wrought 
scrap that gave the best results, depended upon the quality of 
the cast iron scrap or pig with which it was melted, that is, it 
depended upon the per cent of silicon the cast iron contained, but 
as there was no such thing as chemistry of foundry iron at that 
time, there is no data obtainable on this point. 

Mr. Sterling's experiments covered the melting of from 10 
to 60 per cent, wrought iron scrap with 90 to 40 per cent, cast 
iron and noting the increase of strength as the wrought iron was 
increased. In these tests, he found that the maximum strength 
was reached with 30 per cent, wrought scrap ; above this per cent. 
the strength began to decrease, and he set 30 per cent, wrought 
scrap with 70 per cent, cast scrap or pig as a standard for the 
highest strength. 

This scrap is a commercially pure iron, and there is no 
reason why it should not act as a purifier and strengthener of 
cast iron, the same as steel does in semi-steel. But in melting it 
with cast iron, a higher silicon iron must be melted with it, to 
induce it to take up carbon and bring it back to a cast iron. If 
this is not done, it does not properly unite with cast iron when 
melted, and causes hard spots and small blow holes in castings. 
When such a condition is found in castings due to an unknown 
cause, it may be due to this scrap in the mixture and the silicon 
in the mixture should be increased. 

Foundry Scrap. 

This scrap comprises the remelt in foundries, such as gates, 
sprues, runners, sink heads, over iron, cupola dump iron, bad 
castings, etc. 



32 SCRAP IRONS 

This scrap is of the same grade as that in the castings for 
which it was melted, whether hard or soft, and is available to 
melt again for the same line of castings. When remelted, it runs 
a shade harder; this can readily be prevented by melting with 
it in the mixture a sufficiently high per cent, of a soft high silicon 
iron to insure it being as soft as when first melted. This is the 
common practice in foundries, but some few of them do not 
seem to follow this practice, but sell their bad castings to other 
foundries as scrap, while other foundries sell all or part of their 
gates and other remelt. At one foundry I visited the past year 
I was shown a carload of bad lathe chuck castings which they 
had just gotten in from another foundry. These were all bad 
castings, many of which had been partly machined while others 
had been condemned after cleaning. 

At another foundry I learned they were selling a large per 
cent, of their gates to other foundries as scrap. 

The selling of this scrap is the poorest kind of foundry 
practice, for it is worth the cost of the mixture, from which it 
was made, for remelting it, and when sold as scrap it is only 
worth from one-half to two-thirds of this cost, and there is a 
direct loss to that extent. 

The reasons usually given for selling this scrap are that the 
iron runs dirty in the castings, or that the remelt hardens the 
iron to an extent that makes it too hard for the casting. The first 
reason is not valid, for if an iron is proven to run dirty and unfit 
for the castings in two or three heats, its use should be discon- 
tinued at once, or a change effected in the mixture that will 
overcome this trouble, or a flux used that will clean the iron. If 
the remelt renders the iron too hard for the castings, a change 
should be made in the mixture, so that it will carry its remelt. 
This may be done by increasing the per cent, of pig in the mixture, 
or by placing a higher silicon pig in the mixture as a softener. In 
this way all remelt scrap may be rnelted and should be melted 
each heat, and not allowed to accumulate in a foundry. 

Shot Iron. 

This foundry scrap comprises all small particles of iron 
recovered from the cupola dump gangway cleanings, top of 
moulds, etc., and I shall include with it fins, vents, shell from 
runners, ladle sculls, and all very small irons collected from the 
foundry. 

Some foundries consider this iron of so little value that they 
throw out the dump, all of the cupola dump, after picking out the 



SCRAP IRONS 33 

larg-er pieces, and treat the gangway cleanings in the same way ; 
while others shovel it into a stave tumbling barrel and permit 
the smaller particles to escape through the cracks between the 
staves with the sand and other refuse, only recovering the largest 
pieces of iron, claiming that the very small particles are all 
burned up in remelting, and that the larger pieces have a harden- 
ing effect on the iron in the heat. 

That this iron had a hardening effect upon the iron charged 
wi'uh it in melting, and that the greater i>art of it was lost in 
remelting v.'as the opinion of foundrymen for many years, and 
numerous plans were devised and patents taken out for excluding 
the blast from it so as to reduce loss in melting and prevent 
hardening. Among these devices was the placing of the shot in 
cast iron pots tightly covered ; also in open pots ; melting it in 
closed tubes or pipes ; charging it in wooden boxes ; pouring 
molten iron over it ; in pig beds to inclose it in the pig ; placing 
it in ladles and tapping molten iron upon it, etc. But all these 
plans proved a failure, and the iron was either thrown away or 
melted in the last charge for weights or other common castings 
in which the quality of iron was not an important matter. 

With the introduction of foundry chemistry, and a more 
complete knowledge of foundry irons, the hardening efifect of 
this iron has been completely overcome by an increase of silicon 
in the mixture, and although the heavy loss in melting still con- 
tinues, this iron is regularly melted in heats for the various 
lines of castings. 

Since the discovery of this new and more satisfactory 
method of melting shot iron, new methods of recovering it have 
been devised. One of these consists of a series of riddles, placed 
one above another, the upper or coarser riddle recovers the 
larger pieces, and the lower one the smaller pieces. This machine 
recovers all the iron, but it is necessary to break up the cupola 
dump before placing it in the separator. This is done in a 
stave tumbling mill, and the larger pieces recovered and only 
the refuse that escapes through the opening between the staves 
is put through the separator to recover the smaller particles of 
iron. 

Another device is the magnetic separator. In this case, as 
witli the riddle separator, the material is broken up in a tumbling 
barrel, and only the refuse that escapes from the barrel is put 
through the separator. As it passes through the separator the 
magnet recovers every particle of iron, and also considerable 
slag or cinder adhering to the iron. And in some cases, slag 



34 SCRAP IRONS 

heavily impregnated with iron in combination that cannot be 
recovered in melting. A pile of iron recovered by this means 
is therefore deceptive, and may contain very little iron. 

Probably the best method of recovering from this iron is 
by means of a water tumbling mill, of which there are a variety of 
designs on the market. Probably the oldest of these mills is the 
Sly Mill, made by The W. Sly Mfg. Co., Cleveland, Ohio. This 
tumbling mill consists of a water-tight steel tumbling barrel, into 
which the cupola dump or other refuse containing iron is thrown. 
Water is forced into one end of this barrel and flows out at the 
other end, the revolving of the barrel breaks up the dump and 
frees the iron from the cinder and slag, which is washed out by 
the water, leaving the iron perfectly clean and free from slag. 
All small pieces of coke are also washed out by the water ar 1 
separated from other refuse by a revolving screen attached to 
the end of the barrel. This coke is so small that it is of li'tle 
value as a cupola fuel, but it may be used for core ovens, 
heating the foundry in winter, etc. It makes an excellent stove 
and range fuel, and any surplus may be sold to employees for 
this purpose. 

The best method of melting shot iron, yet discovered, is to 
charge it loose into the cupola, with the regular charges of iron, 
placing one or more shovels on each charge of iron, so as to 
divide it up evenly through the heat. When only the shot from the 
previous heat is melted in this way, its hardening efifect, if any. 
is so small that it is not perceptible in the castings. 

This iron should never be permitted to accumulate about rt 
foundry, but all that from the previous heat, gangway, etc., 
melted every day when bright and clean. That from the gangway 
should be put through the tumbler with the dump, to clean and 
remove rust from it, for rust greatly increases its hardening 
tendency. 

When this iron is permitted to accumulate, to be melted 
separately, for weights and other castings, it becomes heavily 
coated with rust and the smaller particles are completely 
destroyed ; thus the per cent, of iron recovered from the larger 
pieces is very small compared with the amount recovered if new 
and clean when melted, and the iron is very hard. 

I met a sashweight founder a few years ago at Indianapolis, 
Ind., that was offered a fifty-ton lot of rusted shot iron for three 
dollars per ton, when the cheapest of scrap was selling at twelve 
dollars per ton. He refused to buy it, even at this low price, giving 



SCRAP IRONS 35 

as a reason that, when mehed, nothing but slag could be obtained 
from it. 

Turnings and Borings. 

This is a machine shop scrap, cut from castings in machining 
by lathes, planers, boring mills, drill presses, etc., and consists 
of very small chips or particles of iron,, some of which are as 
small as iron filings. 

The market value of this iron, when new and clean, is only 
about one-fourth that of the pig or mixture from which it is 
cast, and in many sections of the country is not salable, even ax 
this low price. 

Foundrymen have reasoned that this iron was cut from soft 
castings, and was therefore a soft iron and available for melting 
and casting again for soft castings. Many attempts to melt this 
iron alone in a cupola have been made, in all of which only a 
hard iron was obtained from it. It has also been melted in cupolas 
with pig and scrap mixtures, in which case it was found to have 
so great a hardening effect upon the iron, even with a low per cent 
of it, that this plan had to be abandoned. 

The hardening of this soft iron is due to the oxidizing effect 
upon it by the heat and blast of the cupola, in the teaching of 
chemistry, one of the illustrations of oxidization is the burning 
of iron fihngs in the flame of a candle. In this illustration, the 
filings are taken between the finger and thumb and slowly drop- 
ped upon the flame, the smaller particles are instantly burned, 
with a bright spark, into a black oxide of iron, while the larger 
ones drop through the flames unburnt, owing to the heat not 
being sufficiently intense to burn them. The effect of heat and 
oxygen upon turnings and borings in a cupola is similar to that 
of filings in the flame of a candle, but the heat being more intense 
and the supply of oxygen more abundant, burns all the smaller 
particles to an oxide, and the larger ones to such an extent before 
melting that only a very hard iron is obtained from that not 
totally converted into an oxide and the loss of iron in melting 
is very heavy. 

To reduce the loss in melting and procure from this metal 
a soft iron, all the various schemes for melting shot iron have 
been tried out, and also various other plans designed to exclude 
the blast from it before melting. 

It has been placed in the cupola loose with each change of 
iron, and apparently melted with no hardening effect, but after 



36 SCRAP IRONS 

a few heats, the foundry roof is found to be covered with black 
chips, evidently none but the larger chips having been melted. 
When charged in the cupola in heavy layers alone, it was found 
the blast did not pass through it, but worked its way up around the 
edges, and the destruction of cupola lining was heavy, and the 
iron burned off the edges of the mass very hard. 

A light layer was placed upon the bed and iron from it used 
to warm ladles, and poured into the pig bed. This method fre- 
quently left a scum of hard iron in the ladle, that hardened the 
first ladle of iron and it also was found to clog the bed and retard 
melting throughout the heat. 

It has been charged in bulk into the cupola on top of the 
regular heat to be melted and run into pig and also charged into 
the hot cupola after the heat was melted to be melted in pig ; 
neither of these plans proved a success in getting a soft iron. 

It has been placed in the bottom of ladles to be melted by 
the molten metal direct from the cupola, but it was found to ball 
up or mat together in the bottom of the ladle, and could not be 
melted from a small bull ladle, many times filled with hot iron, 
during a heat. A very little of this iron can be melted in this 
way, but not a sufficient quantity to make it practical. 

Attempts have been made to place this iron in pigs to be 
remelted, by placing it on top of the molten iron in the pig bed, 
and placing it between layers of iron by partly filling the pig 
with molten iron and placing turnings upon it, while in a molten 
state and pouring more molten iron on the turnings, and in this 
way build up a solid layer of pigs and turnings. This me^thod 
was found not to be practical, as only a very small per cent could 
be incorporated in the iron. 

Another scheme was to make a pig bed of these turnings, 
in place of a sand bed. It was hoped by pouring iron into this 
bed to melt the turnings and incorporate them with the iron. But 
the turnings v/ere not melted by the iron, and only a very limited 
amount adhered to the pig, and the greater part of this fell off 
in handling before reaching the cupola for remelt. 

Nezv Methods for Melting this Iron. 

The following notice appeared in a foundry paper a few 
years ago : "A process for charging and melting borings, turn- 
ings, etc., in the cupola, to insure the melting of this material 
with regular pig and scrap charges, and to prevent the same 
particles from being blown out of the furnace, by the blast, has 



yCRAP IRONS 37 

been patented by Walter F. Prince, who is in charge of the 
foundry department of The International Steam Pump Co., Eliza- 
beth, N. J. The material consisting of borings, drillings, or any 
other small particles of, iron is charged in wrought iron pipes, 
preferably, number 18 to 24 gauge and varying in length from 
3 to 4 feet. This casing may be open end cylinders or may be 
closed at one end, .so as to hold the borings independently of 
stacking the castings. The transmission of heat through the pipes 
brings the borings into condition to readily melt down with the 
rest of the cupola charge. The entire charge of material in the 
furnace therefore settles down uniformly and as the charge on 
top is continued, casings are added and fille4 with borings or 
drillings as designed. The first section of the pipe containing 
borings or drillings is charged on the coke bed, and other sec- 
tions are added as the charging continues, while only one stack 
of casings is referred to, any number of stacks may be used in 
the cupola, according to the results desired." — The Foundry. 

Upon visiting the Worthington Plant, at Harrison, N. J., I 
met Mr. Prince, who very cordially explained to me his system 
and showed me his method of operating it. He was melting ip 
a 72-inch cupola and for his bormgs was using a 12-inch diam- 
eter sheet metal pipe in 3- feet lengths. These pipe lengths 
were put together like stove pipe, and the end of the pipe set on 
the bed in about the center of the cupola, and filled with borings 
up to the charging door. The charges of iron and coke were 
placed in the cupola around this pipe in the regular way, a small 
charging door had been placed in the cupola above the regular 
charging door, and a platform erected for charging the borings 
so that this charging might be out of the way of the men charg- 
ing the coke and irons. When the blast was put on, and the iron 
began to melt, the borings and pipes also began to melt at the 
end on the bed and settle with the stock, as the pipe settled 
another length was put on, and filled until all the stock for the 
heat was charged. Only one pipe or stack of pipes were being 
used but as many as desired may be placed in the cupola. The 
cost for pipes in this case was one dollar and twenty-five cents 
per ton of borings, and the value of the iron recovered claimed 
to be equal to the value of the iron in the mixture of pig and 
scrap. The pipes used were made of number twenty-four gauge 
sheet steel, and of a diameter to suit the size of cupola and heat 
melted that only one stack might be used and the desired per cent, 
of borings melted. But ordinary stove-pipe of a diameter to carry 
the per cent, of borings may be used, and desired number of 
stacks placed in a cupola. _ . ., _ v,.' 



38 SCRAP IROMS 

Mr. Prince was able to show very satisfactory results ifl 
analysis, strength and machining properties from borings, melted 
in this way, in his regular mixture. The entire output of borings 
from this plant, which amounted to from five to ten per cent, of 
the heat, was being melted in this way each day. 

German Method of Briquetting This Metal. 

A machine shop handling about three thousand tons of iron 
castings a year, has from two hundred to two hundred and fifty 
tons of scrap iron and steel turnings which it can sell to the 
foundry for briquetting. Some foundries bought the scrap and 
tried to melt it in cast iron pipes, pots or boxes, but gave it up 
as it was too expensive. The same was true of those foundries 
using wooden vessels, as the price of lumber forbade that prac- 
tice. 

Briquetting this scrap was also tried, but it was found that 
to do this a binding material was used which was high in cost 
and had an injurious effect upon the castings. 

For use in cupolas only briquettes of the following descrip- 
tion can be used : 

First, they must consist of pure iron and steel chips. 

Second, they must have sufficient firmness. 

Third, they must remain firm until they are melted. 

Fourth, they must be low in cost. 

All of these requirements are met by briquettes made by the 
Ronay Process. In this process the chips are dumped into a bin, 
and are conveyed by belt conveyors and elevators to the mag- 
netic separator, where dirt and scale are removed and then go 
to the blast where the last tracings of dust are blown out. They 
are now delivered to the press where they undergo varying pres- 
sures, going up step by step, and ending with a pressure of from 
23,000 to 30.000 lbs. 

By this process and the special air removing process which 
removes latent air from the briquette, a product is obtained which 
contains practically no air, and has very great firmness. 

The presses are hydraulic rotary presses of special design. 
The various sorts of material used are steel, cast iron, grey iron, 
cylinder iron and scrap in general. These are worked and treated 
in separate bins, so that the composition of the different briquettes 
can be varied at will. This is especially useful for foundries 



tjCRAP IRONS 39 

Without laboratories, as the foundry manager can always figure 
out the composition needed and get just what he wants. 

Tests have shown that in the iron in briquette combinations, 
used in cupolas, the carbon is very low. This loss is explained 
in the following way : the structure of the briquette, though very 
compact, is not completely so, and is porous to a certain extent — 
porous enough to allow gas from the furnace to penetrate through 
the mass ; when this takes place, the carbon in the briquette, which 
is there in the form of graphite, is burned. As the process goes 
on, the decarbonized iron takes up fresh carbon, but the time in 
which this is done is so short, that the iron cannot take up suffi- 
cient carbon to make up the loss ; we get, therefore, iron with a 
low carbon percentage, which, however, is very strong and gives 
a good grain to the casting. The carbon percentage can also be 
lowered by the addition of 5 to 15 per cent, of steel, but usually 
there is so little silicon in the iron, that the castings become hard 
and difficult to machine and finish. In which case, a low car- 
bon special iron must be added. 

"With the use of briquettes such special iron is not needed. 
With the right briquetting proportions the most sensitive parts 
can be cast, such as locomotives and pump cylinders. This com- 
bination iron can also be used for castings of great strength, 
where thin walls are necessary, or castings making sudden changes 
of cross section, as gear teeth and wheels. In machine and lathe 
castings, where fine grain is vv^anted, this iron will be found use- 
ful. In practice, the combination of iron with 20 to 40 per cent, 
briquettes has proven efficient." 

"Briquetting of metal chips is important, as it saves money 
and is much more economical than the ordinary process of melt- 
ing metals in crucibles. The briquettes can also be used with 
other metals in cupolas, or else can be used separately and will 
give good castings. On account of the uniform weight, they are 
easily controlled in the stock room, and the loss in conveying 
suffered from loose metal chips is entirely eliminated. The pro- 
cess can be used for brass, copper, aluminum, white metal and 
other metals." — Giesserei Zeitung. 

Pressure Briquetting. 

The General Briquetting Co., 25 Broad Street, New York 
City, N. Y., had on exhibition at the Boston, Mass., convention 
of The American Foundrymen's Association sample briquettes of 
borings and turnings made under pressure. These were made 
in a cylinder, into which the borings were placed and subjected 



40 SCRAP IRON^ 

to a pressure of 30,000 lbs., which pressed them into a solid block, 
having the appearance of one solid piece of iron, and showing 
no outward indications of being small turnings or borings or 
chips of iron. Samples of mixtures melted, containing these 
briquettes, showed that as high as 30 per cent, of these briquettes 
have been melted in a mixture. A five per cent, bar showed i 
very close iron, and a ten per cent, mixture showed a very close 
iron with a decided tendency to chill, and this appeared to me to 
be about the limit that could be melted in mixtures for soft 
castings. Parties wishing to learn more about this manner of 
briquetting can do so by addressing the above firm. 

It will be noticed that in the German description, it is stated 
that the carbon which is there in the form of graphite is burned. 
As the process goes on, the decarbonized iron takes up fresh car- 
bon, but the time in which this is done is so short that the iron 
cannot take up sufficient carbon to make up the loss. We get 
therefore an iron with a low percentage of carbon. 

This statement indicates that this iron is much harder than 
before melting, and that the production of a soft machinable 
iron was not obtained by .briquetting. 

The exhibition of briquetting at Boston convention did not 
show any sample of briquettes melted alone, those shown contain- 
ing 5 per cent, briquettes in a mixture showed a very close iron, 
and those containing 10 per cent, showed a decided tendency to 
chill. 

Although compressed briquettes are a solid block of iron, 
showing no outward indications of being turnings and borings, 
they are said to fall to pieces when heated to about 800 degrees 
Fah. 

Binder Briquetting. 

"The use of cast iron borings in cupola has always involved 
great difficulty in view of the fact that the heats rarely ever show 
that any of the material so charged has been recovered. This 
either indicates that the borings have been blown out of the cup- 
ola by the blast, or that they have been oxidized and carried away 
in the slag. Various methods of charging the borings have been 
tried, but it seems that briquetting this material brings the most 
satisfactory results. A mould for these briquettes made from 
ordinary lumber, tapering from 13 x 7 inches at top to 12 x 6 
inches at the bottom, will form briquettes weighing from 50 to 55 
lbs. each. A tapered mould is preferred as the briquettes can 
more easily be removed from the boxes. 



fe(iRAt IRONS 41 

"The material is mixed with briquetting compound or binder, 
manufactured by the O. Obermayer Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, and is 
thoroughly mixed in a dry state, sufficient water is added to tem- 
per the mixture, in, practically the same way that an ordinary 
core mixture is prepared. The borings mixed with the compound 
are then compressed in the mould by use of either compressed air 
or a hand press. A jar ramming or squeezer moulding machine 
can likewise be used for this work. Approximately 50 lbs. of 
briquetting compound are used per ton of borings. Briquettes, 
before using, should be permitted to remain in a temperature 
ranging from 75 to 80 degrees Fah., for a period of forty-eight 
hours, when they are ready for use. When charging these 
briquettes, they should not be placed upon the coke bed, but 
should be included in the subsequent charges. The borings should 
be charged on the top of the scrap before the coke is added. Ap- 
proximately 10 to 15 per cent, borings may be used to each cupola 
charge." — The Foundry. 

The above appeared in "The Foundry" a few years ago, and 
shortly afterward I visited a foundry at Waterloo, Iowa, that 
was trying out this briquetting compound, and learned that the 
compound had a heating effect upon the briquettes and that they 
remained warm for 48 hours after briquetting, and did not form 
a hard solid block of iron before being ready for charging, but 
could be crumbled off with the hand, and they probably went to 
pieces as soon as heated. The foreman stated the melting of these 
briquettes had been a success, but on visiting the plant some time 
later, I learned that they had discontinued briquetting and melting 
this iron as it had not proven satisfactory. 

, Other Methods of Briquetting. 

Mr. Lewis Baden, foundry superintendent of The Niles 
Tool Works Foundry, Hamilton, Ohio, reports the successful 
melting of this iron by mixing it with a sufficient amount of 
Portland cement to hold the iron together when set. The cement 
is wet and mixed with the turnings, the mass is then rammed 
into an iron pig mould, from which it is readily removed when 
the cement has set and formed with the iron a solid mass. The 
pigs are then piled to dry for a few days, and when dry are 
charged into the cupola with the regular mixture of iron for the 
heat. Mr. Baden reports very satisfactory results with 10 per 
cent, of this iron in their regular mixture of soft machined tool 
castings. A hard iron with 20 per cent., a still harder one with 
30 per cent., and one too hard to be machined with 40 per cent. 
Two bags of cement are sufficient for a ton of borings. 



42 SCRAP iRoM^ 

Mr. David Spence, foundry superintendent of The Daytori 
Motor Works Foundry, North Dayton, Ohio, obtained results 
similar to those of Mr. Baden, in melting this iron, by mixing 
it with plaster of Paris and forming it into pigs, but did not 
continue to prepare and melt the iron in this way for any length 
of time. 

In briquetting with either of these materials, the smallest 
possible amount of binder that will hold the iron together should 
be used. For if too abundant they retard the melting and tend 
to clog the cupola if many briquettes are melted in a heat. 

Chattanooga Method. 

A foundryman at Chattanooga, Tenn., informed me that he 
had melted borings very successfully by taking off the blast as 
soon as his iron was all melted, and charging a ton of borings into 
the hot cupola without extra coke and putting on a mild blast, 
after the borings had been in fifteen minutes. This method, it 
was stated, produced a very close or mottled pig which was used 
in cylinder mixtures to close up the grain of the iron. The cup- 
ola was a fifty-four inch one. 

W. F. Keep's Method. 

Mr. Keep, in answer to an inquiry as to the best method of 
melting borings, answers in "The Foundry" as follows : 

"I would advise spreading the borings over the sand bot- 
tom before the kindling is put into the cupola. They should be 
spread approximately one to two inches thick. This charge of 
borings will be melted by the first iron that comes down and will 
not injure the mixture. By experimenting you can soon ascer- 
tain hov/ thick a layer of borings can be melted." 

It is well known that a layer of this iron one to two inches 
thick in a ladle cakes up and cannot be melted out with a ladle 
many times filled during a heat. This would probably be the 
case in a cupola, in which event, it would hang up the entire 
dump. The first iron melting and falling upon this solid iron 
in drops would be chilled, and with the slow melting of the cup- 
ola at the start might, be chilled to an extent that it could not 
be tapped. At any rate, the first tap would be dull iron, with i 
possibility of dull iron throughout the heat. 

R. P. Shazi/s Method. 

In answer to inquiries made in "The Foundry" regarding the 
best method of melting cast iron borings in the cupola, R. P. 



Shaw says : "I have a suggestion to offer that has given me 
excellent results in the past. When charging the cupola I usually 
lay about 200 lbs. of small scrap evenly upon the bed of coke, 
on top of this layer I charge from one to two hundred pounds 
of borings, I then complete the charging of the furnace in the 
usual way. The weight of the pig iron being sufficient to pre- 
vent the borings from being blown out of the stack. Some bor- 
ings are, of course, lost in this way, but the speed of the blower 
can be regulated and the blast can be kept down to eight or ten 
ounces." 

"Before belding in the last two charges it is advisable to 
reduce the speed of the blower about one-half, as the greater 
loss will occur at this time if the furnace is not properly con- 
trolled." 

"Another method that has given good results provides for 
the charging of the borings when the furnace is running low 
and after the moulds have all been poured. The entire charge of 
borings, amounting to two thousand pounds can be made and 
can be melted with a small amount of coke, as the furnace is hot 
enough at this time to almost melt these particles of iron. This 
iron will be suitable to run into the pig bed." 

The melting of this iron in bulk upon the bed and in charges 
has already been described with results obtained. It can be 
melted in a hot cupola at the end of a heat, and a close or mottled 
iron obtained from it, if there is a good bed of coke in the cup- 
ola at the end of a heat. If the coke is almost exhausted it can- 
not be melted at all. but combines with the slag and bungs up the 
cupola. It will be well to remember these two "ifs" when making 
this test. 

Piping Borings. 

Borings are now being put up in joints of stove pipe at 
Bridgeport, Conn., and other New England towns by machine 
companies and sold to foundrymen for melting. About a four- 
inch pipe is used, and a head is put in each end and the pipe bat- 
tered down over it to hold it in place. These pipes, charged into 
the cupola on top of the pig iron, melt rapidly, and are said to 
give a very satisfactory metal in a proper mixture. 

This system of melting borings has been practiced in Hamil- 
ton, Ohio, for a number of years, and gives very satisfactory 
results in mixtures for heavy cylinders, in which a small per cent, 
is used to give a very close metal. When melted alone in this 
way, it gives a white or mottled metal, and in no case that has 



44 SCRAP IROiSfS 

come to my knowledge has this iron been melted to produce a.^ 
soft an iron as when originally charged into the cupola. 

My Own Tests. 

I have made many tests in melting this metal, and also 
learned of others having made similar tests which proved satis- 
factory, but I have never learned of any of them continuing to 
melt it for any great length of time. 

One of the most extended tests I ever made in the melting 
of this metal was at the foundry of Bement & Miles, Philadel- 
phia, Pa., some twenty-five years ago. In these tests the borings 
were put up in rough wooden boxes, holding one hundred pounds 
each, the boxes were charged with the regular mixture to an 
extent of 5 per cent, of each charge. The borings melted and 
mixed with the other iron and produced a very satisfactory iron 
for machining for about a month's time. At the end of this 
time, a long lathe bed was cast, and when lifted from the sand, 
about six feet of it dropped off one end from its own weight. 
An inspection of the fracture showed a white, very hard, weak 
iron, that could not be touched with a tool, the borings had evi- 
dently not mixed with the other iron, and all flowed into this part 
of the casting. This ended the tests and melting of borings at 
this plant. 

I have met other foundrymen who had a similar experience 
in melting borings, and even with the Prince Process, a foundry 
at Milwaukee, Wis., had a five-ton cylinder split open from end 
to end due to the boring iron not mixing with the other iron. 
But this was attributed to the pipe, in which they were charged, 
bursting and the borings not being melted at the end of the pipe. 
I have found that this iron may not only concentrate in one place, 
but also that it runs spotted when mixed with soft iron, and be- 
comes what is known as a sandwich iron, that is, has no fibers 
extending into the soft iron. 

My best results in melting this iron in a cupola have been 
obtained with about 5 per cent. , borings, above this point its 
hardening tendency is very great, and 10 per cent, is about the 
limit that can be used with an ordinary foundry mixture without 
having the iron too hard for machining. Even with 5 per cent, 
of borings, the tendency to harden a soft iron is very great, and 
when borings are mixed with a soft iron, the silicon should be 
increased in the mixture to insure the castings being soft. 

The melting of turnings and borings has always been an 
attractive proposition to foundrymen, and probably more time 



SCRAP IRONS 45 

and money has been spent in devising and trying out various 
plans to melt this iron than any other proposition that has come 
before them without obtaining the desired results. I have there- 
fore gone into this matter in detail, that foundrymen may know 
what has been done, and not go over the same ground again with 
no better results. 

It is a common practice in machine shops where this iron 
is not salable to throw it out in a heap to rust and be destroyed. 
This is a waste of very fine sidewalk or runway material, for 
by wetting it with a little salammoniac water or a very thin cement, 
and ramming it down in a layer several inches thick, it rusts into 
a solid block of iron, and makes a runway for wheel barrows 
in the foundry yard that never wears out, and a bed of ashes or 
cinder under it prevents it being thrown out of shape or broken 
up by the frost. It also makes a fine floor for scrap bins, and 
may save many small pieces of iron commonly trampled into 
the ground. 

Steel Turnings and Borings. 

I have never learned of these turnings and borings having 
been successfully melted in a cupola, although many attempts 
have been made to melt them by the various plans described for 
melting iron turnings and borings. These turnings are so light 
and borings so small that probably the greater part of them are 
burned up by the intense heat of the cupola, and very little metal 
has been recovered from them when melted alone, and this was 
extremely hard. 

Mr. Prince claims to have melted them successfully by his 
pipe plan when mixed with iron turnings in a limited quantity, 
but this is a matter that is very difficult to determine, whether 
they were melted or burned up. 

But they may be melted by dropping the long ribbon-like 
turnings into a ladle of very hot iron. In this case they should 
be dropped into the molten iron from the hand very slowly, and 
evenly distributed over the surface of the iron. When this is not 
done and they are put in from a shovel or too heavy a layer 
put in by hand, they ball up, and are difficult to melt before the 
iron becomes too dull for pouring. About 5 per cent, thin, clean 
turnings can be melted this way in good hot iron and they have 
a very decided effect in closing up the grain and strengthening 
the iron. 



46 SCRAP IRONS 

It is a common practice in many jobbing foundries to treat 
iron in this way when only a limited amount of close, strong 
iron is required for casting. 

Bins for Pig and Scrap. 

It is common practice to throw pig iron upon the ground 
when unloading cars in the foundry yard, and by a second hand- 
ling place it in piles, and place a sign upon each pile to indicate 
the make and grade of the iron. This conserves the room in the 
yard and makes it look very neat but with the present high price 
of labor it is quite expensive. 

It] is also common practice in unloading scrap to throw it 
upon the ground where it sinks into the soft earth in wet weather, 
and small pieces in breaking are trampled into the ground and 
lost. Where this practice has been followed for years, tons of 
this small iron may be found buried in the ground. To save 
the expense of piling pig and loss of scrap iron, bins may be 
constructed for both pig and scrap. 

When visiting the Walker Foundry Co. Plant, Erie, Pa., 
last month, I found a very complete set of bins for pig and scrap. 
These bins were constructed of old railroad ties set on ends close 
together with one end sunk into the ground about two feet and 
fastened together at the top with a two by four studding on each 
side bolted together. This formed a stockade that could not be 
moved or destroyed by pig iron thrown against it from a car. 
Each bin was of a size to hold one or more cars of pig or scrap. 
A partition of ties between the bins served to separate the dif- 
ferent grades and brands of pig, and no further piling was neces- 
sary, as each bin was marked with the brand or grade of iron. 
A good solid floor was placed in each bin which prevented both 
pig and scrap sinking into the mud and being lost. 



Chemistry 

Chapter IV 

Chemistry is a very old science, as there is evidence of it 
having been practiced by many of the ancient nations under 
various names, but it does not appear to have been applied to the 
manufacture of iron or its manipulation to any great extent until 
about the time of the issuing in England of a patent for the 
making of what is now known as Bessemer steel in the year 1855. 
From that time on its development in this direction was rapid, and 
it now probably covers every branch of the iron industry of the 
entire world. 

In this country chemistry was only employed in the making 
of steel until about 1876. About this time furnace men began 
to analyze their ores, and some of the car wheel founders em- 
ployed chemists in their efforts to find a substitute for cold blast 
charcoal iron which was becoming very scarce for car wheel 
making. This research' met with so great a success that Dr. 
Dudley, the chemist of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in 1878, 
took up this research work, and numerous analyses of pig iron 
used in the making of car wheels and also the analysis of the 
wheel were made at the fotmdry of this company located at 
Altoona, Pa. After the publication of the results obtained by 
Dr. Dudley more interest was taken in the chemistry of foundry 
iron, some of the larger foundry companies fitted up laboratories 
and employed chemists who had been employed by steel plants 
and had some experience in the analysis of pig iron, to determine 
its suitability for steel making. Blast furnacemen also began 
analyzing their ores and iron about this time, but progress was 
slow, and it was not until 1882 that the prediction was made in 
print that the time was coming when pig iron would be sold by 



48 CHEMISTRY 

analysis instead of fracture indication — the method that had been 
followed for hundreds of years. 

It was not until 1890 that this prediction was realized, and 
not until about 1895 that chemistry was adopted by foundrymen 
to any considerable extent in determining the quality of iron in 
their pig, and foundrymen applied this knowledge in the making 
of mixtures for their castings. About 1900 the American Foun- 
drymen's Association and various local foundrymen's associations 
took up the matter and every facility was offered to chemists to 
make the chemistry of foundry iron a success. That their efforts 
were both a failure and a success must be admitted, for they 
failed to produce from anthracite and coke iron an iron having 
the superior qualities of a charcoal, hot or cold blast, pig iron, 
as it was hoped to do, but they have succeeded in producing from 
these irons, with a greater degree of certainty, an iron having the 
desired degree of softness, hardness, density, strength, etc., than 
was formerly done from fracture indications. 

Blast furnace chemists appear to have made more progress 
than the foundry chemist, for they have been able to produce 
from the analysis of ores and mixing of them an iron that when 
annealed produced malleable iron equal to that of charcoal iron. 

Pig iron is now generally graded and sold by analysis, al- 
though some furnacemen still adhere to fracture grading, while 
others grade by analysis and sell by number. New methods of 
casting and the rapid cooling of pig iron have so completely 
changed fracture indications in pig iron that foundrymen are 
practically compelled to adopt the analysis system in ordering 
and mixing their iron. The analysis for grading and mixing has 
now attained such a lead in the grading and mixing of foundry 
irons that it is bound to remain the leading system, and it should 
be the aim of every foundryman to perfect himself in this method 
of manipulating his iron. 

Chemistry of Pig Iron. 

Iron ores are found in combination with almost all of the 
known elements, many of which are not separated from the iron 
or destroyed by the heat of a blast furnace in smelting the ore. 
And in the process of smelting the iron may also take up other 
elements or impurities from the smelting fuel. So that in nig 
iron we have the crudest of all the commercial irons. From an- 
alysis of ores, chemists have been able to select ores possessing 
desired properties for steel making, and in foundry practice for 
malleable iron making, but the foundry chemist has not this broad 



CHEMISTRY 49 

field to work from, but he must take the pig iron with all its 
impurities, in combination with the iron, njany of which there is 
no possibility of eliminating in the cupola melting of iron and 
produce a metal of a desired quality. This the foundry chemist 
has been endeavoring to do by increasing the elements or metal- 
loid as they have been termed, that have been found to have a 
softening effect upon the iron and decreasing the metalloid that 
has a hardening effect when a soft iron was desired, and for a 
hard iron, increasing the metalloid that has a hardening effect 
and decreasing the one that has a softening effect. For a strong 
iron the metalloid that has been found to be a strengthener is in- 
creased, and that having a weakening effect is decreased, and this 
is the plan and system followed in obtaining fluidity, chilling prop- 
erties and all the various characteristics desired in iron for the 
various lines of castings. 

All the various elements contained in pig iron have been an- 
alyzed but many of them have been found to have such a trifling 
efifect upon the iron, as cast iron, that they are not considered in 
the manipulation of foundry iron and seldom analyzed for, while 
others are so seldom found that they are only analyzed for when 
trouble with the iron is met with and cannot be overcome with 
this system of elimination. The elements or metalloids consid- 
ered important in the manipulation of foundry iron have been 
reduced to four, these are silicon, phosphorus, manganese and 
sulphur. The functions of these four metalloids in the manipula- 
tion of foundry iron are as follows : 

Silicon is a softener and strength reducer in iron ; phos- 
phorus is a fluidity giver and also a strength reducer ; manganese 
is a hardener, chill increaser. sulphur eliminator and strength- 
ener of iron ; sulphur is a hardener and strength reducer. 

The various effects of these four metalloids upon iron have 
been fully demonstrated and proven by chemists in laboratory 
work, but they cannot be so fully demonstrated or sO' accurate 
results obtained in cupola practice where conditions are met with 
in melting, entirely different from those in laboratory practice, 
pnd approximate results can only be attained in foundry irons. 
That these may be fully obtained the effect of the various metal- 
loids upon iron should be carefully studied by the student. 

Silicon. 

Silicon is a non-metallic infusible substance which forms the 
basis of silica, of which quartz rock is an example. It is there- 
fore a foreign body in iron, and may be separated from it as a 



50 CHEMISTRY 

white silica sand in laboratory ]>ractice, and has also been separ- 
ated from iron in cupola melting and found in castings. 

Silicon combines freely with cast iron, and may be found 
as high as 20 per cent, in iron smelted from ores heavily impreg- 
nated with it, and may be combined with iron up to 95 per cent, 
in electric and other special furnaces. Above 10 per cent, the 
iron begins to lose its characteristics as iron, and is difficult to 
cast, and is termed ferro-silicon. 

Silicon promotes the absorption of carbon in cast iron from 
the melting fuel, and acts upon the iron as a softener by increas- 
ing the graphite carbon ; as this is increased the crystals of the 
fracture increase in size until .a No. 1 X iron is reached, an in- 
crease of silicon beyond this point gradually decreases the size 
of crystals until the fracture has an appearance very similar to 
that of a white hard iron but is a soft iron. The point of dis- 
tinction between these two irons in fracture is the silvery grey 
color of the soft iron and the white hard iron has a bluish cast 
of color. A test for these two irons to determine their hardness 
or softness is to chip or file them. This test should be made by 
a man accustomed/ to filing and chipping iron for all iron files 
or chips hard to a man not accustomed to chipping and filing. 

The color of a fresh fracture of a No. 1 X iron varies wit.i 
the per cent, of other metalloids the iron may contain. That 
smelted from a southern high silicon ore generally has a light or 
silver grey cast, and that smelted from a northern ore has a dark 
or light bluish cast, with the two irons containing the same per 
cent, of silicon, which in a No. 1 X iron, is about 3.50 per cent. 

Silicon also has a weakening effect upon cast iron, which 
becomes more apparent after it has passed the 3.50 point, and 
even pig containing about this per cent, has to be handled with 
care to prevent breaking when unloading from cars. A pig 
containing about 3 per cent, silicon runs soft and strong in cast- 
ings of light sections but entirely too open, porous and weak for 
castings of heavy sections, and pig contains 1.00 to 2.00 per cent, 
silicon runs hard and weak in castings of light section but soft 
and' strong in castings of heavy sections. These opposite results 
are not due to the silicon but to the form the carbon has assumed, 
that is, a combined or graphite state, and the per cent, of silicon 
in the iron is the indicator of the form it may assume and the 
degree of hardness or softness that may be found in casting^s 
when melting iron containing various per cent, of silicon. 

Silicon, when separated from iron by analysis, is in the form 
of a silica sand, and when present in iron, in a high per cent. 



CHEMISTRY 51 

does not harden the iron but imparts to it a grit that grinds the 
edge off a lathe or planer tool very rapidly, and it can only be 
turned or planed with the hardest and best of tool steel ; this gives 
the impression that it is a hard iron, which is not the case. 

These various effects of silicon upon iron should be care- 
fully studied until fully understood, that this knowledge may be 
applied in a practical manner in the making of mixtures. The 
plants to be remembered and applied in the making of mixtures 
are as follows : 

Fvst — Silicon is a softener of iron, and a 3.00 per cent, sili- 
con iron is. a soft open iron suitable for stove plate bench work 
and similar light castings. Silicon in mixtures for these hnes of 
castings varies from 2.00 to 3.00 per cent., depending upon the 
thickness of section. 

Second — Silicon is a destroyer of strength in iron, and a 
3.00 per cent, silicon iron makes an open, porous, weak iron in 
heavy castings. For this line of castings a lower silicon should 
be used. Silicon in mixtures for this line of castings varies from 
1.50 to 2.50 per cent. The lower silicon is placed in mixtures 
for heavy cylinders and other heavy castings designed to be close 
and strong. 2.50 silicon is placed in castings varying in thick- 
ness from one-fourth to one-half inch in thickness. The siUcon 
commonly placed in mixtures for job castings is about 2.00 per 
cent. 

Third — For castings designed to be very hard or very close, 
0.50 to 1.50 per cent, silicon is placed in mixtures. The lower 
per cent, gives a very hard white iron, and the higher per cent, 
a white iron in light castings and an iron that may be machined 
in heavy castings but hard and very close. 

Fourth — Too high a silicon places a grit in iron that makes 
it hard to machine, and it is sometimes condemned as a hard 
iron, but this iron is really a soft iron. The founder should 
familiarize himself with this phenomena and be able to differ- 
entiate between a grit iron and a hard iron. This may be done 
by a study of the fracture, which in a grit iron is of a light color 
and silvery grey cast, while that of a hard iron is of a white 
or light color with a bluish cast. The chipping and filing test 
above described may also be used. In case a grit is found in 
the iron the silicon of the mixture should be at once reduced to 
a point that will remove this grit and make the iron work soft 
and free. 



52 CHEMISTRY 

In all cases where an iron is too hard for the work, the sili- 
con should be increased and when too soft, open, porous and 
weak, the silicon should be decreased. 

Coke iron, when graded by analysis and sold by number, 
contains about the following per cent, of silicon, which was es- 
tablished by a committee of The American Foundrymen's Asso- 
ciation as a standard for iron sold by number: 

No. 1 X iron, 3.50 per cent. 

No. 2 X iron, 3.00 per cent. 

No. 1 plain iron, 2.50 per cent. 

No. 2 plain iron, 2.25 per cent. 

No. 3 mottled iron, 1.50 per cent. 

No. 4 white iron, 1.00 per cent. ' 

No. 5 white iron, 0.50 per cent. 

Silvery pig iron, 4 to 6 per cent. 

Ferro-silicon iron, 6 to 10 per cent. 

The following is the standard for silicon in charcoal iron 
sold by number : 

No. 1 soft iron, 1.95 per cent. 

No. 2 soft iron, 0.95 per cent. 

No. 3 close iron, 0.55 per cent. 

No. 4 mottled iron, 0.35 per cent. 

No. 5 white iron, 0.22 per cent. 

It will be observed that the per cent, of silicon runs much 
lower in charcoal than in coke iron, but the same results are 
obtained in mixtures of these irons, the high silicon gives a soft 
casting and the low silicon a hard casting, and the intermediate 
grades may be mixed to give an iron of various degrees of hard- 
ness and softness. 

Silicon Lost in Melting. 

It has been determined by a careflil analysis of pig, remelt 
and castings that the loss of silicon in cupola melting is about 
ten points, or one-tenth of 1 per cent., and this has been set as a 
standard for loss of silicon in cupola melting. 

To ascertain this loss in melting it is necessary that the pig 
should be accurately analyzed that all remelt, old scrap, etc., 
placed in the mixture should be analyzed. That the per cent, 
in each should be accurately figured out and combined in charge 



Chkmis'Try 53 

to give the per cent, desired and to attain this, each iron in the 
charge must be weighed down to odd pounds and total of charges 
weighed to odd pounds. This method of analysis, weighing 
charges, etc., would give accurate results in castings, but no one 
but a chemist fresh from college would think of going into all 
this detail, for it is not practical to do so with our present system 
of analysis of foundry iron and cupola practice. 

To begin with, the analysis of foundry pig is made by tak- 
ing drillings from about three pigs selected from different parts 
of the furnace cast, they are analyzed and the result of this analy- 
sis determines the analysis of the entire cast. That this analysis 
does not accurately indicate the analysis of the entire cast, or the 
analysis is totally wrong has been proven many times by the iron 
not producing in castings an iron of the quality indicated by the 
analysis, and many, cars of iron have been condemned and re- 
jected. It is not practical to analyze every piece of old scrap 
and the analysis of remelt scrap is seldom made, which makes 
it necessary to adopt a system of averages or guesswork as to 
the certain contents of a mixture. With this uncertainty to begin 
with, it is, of course, impossible to determine the loss of silicon 
in melting. 

In the melting of iron in a cupola the iron comes in direct 
contact with the fuel and blast, in the solid, semi-solid and molten 
state and a certain per cent, of silicon is burned out of it and 
there is a correspondent loss of graphite carbon and hardening 
of the iron. This loss is increased by an excess of fuel in melt- 
ing, holding the iron above the melting zone where it is roasted 
and burned until the excess fuel is burned away and permits the 
iron to settle into the melting zone and the loss of silicon is 
heavier than if only the proper amount of fuel were charged. 
When there is a deficiency of fuel, the iron settles so low in the 
cupola before melting, that it is struck by the blast when in 
a semi-molten or mushy state and oxidized, and there is an 
increased loss of silicon and graphite, and also of iron converted 
into slag. These various conditions make it impossible to state 
any definite per cent, of silicon lost in melting that would be ac- 
curate in all cupolas, even if all iron charged were accurately 
analyzed. ' 

It is the common practice to estimate the loss of silicon on 
remelt scrap for charging at one-fourth of 1 per cent, below that 
in the mixture from which it was melted, and to make the same 
allowance for loss of silicon in castings. This gives a safe mar- 
gin to work on, in preventing hardness due to loss of silicon, 



54 CHEMIStR^ 

Many foundrymen pay no attention to loss of silicon in melt- 
ing, but establish a standard silicon content of their mixture for 
various lines or sizes of castings, and vary the per cent, of pig 
in the mixture to maintain this per cent, of silicon. 

Ferro-silicon. 

Ferro-silicon is a compound of cast iron and silicon melted 
or fused together. Silicon is found in combination with iron in 
its ores, and when the ore is melted, remains in combination with 
the iron, and a pig iron containing as high as 20 per cent, silicon 
may be produced by a blast furnace smelting a high silicon ore. 
This iron when containing from 6 to 10 per cent, silicon is 
called ferro-silicon pig, and above this point is sometimes termed 
ferro-silicon. But a real ferro-silicon does not occur to above 
20 per cent, silicon, but may run as high as 95 per cent, silicon. 

Above 20 per cent, ferro-silicon is made in electric fur- 
naces, the higher per cent, lose all their iron properties, and may 
be broken into small pieces, crushed into small granules or ground 
to a powder. 

Silicon was found to be a softener of cast iron, to an extent 
that a white, hard iron could be converted into a soft iron b}' 
the introduction of silicon into the melting crucibles used in lab- 
oratory practice. It was hoped to produce these same results in 
cupola practice and ladles of molten iron, and ferro-silicon above 
20 per cent, was a product of this discovery for that purpose. 

It was heavily advertised for that purpose a few years ago, 
and there were few foundries that did not give it a trial in both 
cupola and ladles. The lump or large granular form was designed 
for use in the cupola, and the powdered form was for use in 
ladles. 

Many tests of this material in the cupola showed that it did 
not impart to hard iron the softening efifect that was claimed 
for it, this was probably due to the difficulty in bringing it into 
contact with the molten or semi-molten iron for a sufficient length 
of time to be absorbed by the iron to an extent that would pro- 
duce any marked softening eft'ect upon it, and its use for this 
purpose has been practically abandoned, but no doubt will be 
taken up again in its present form or perhaps a new form. 

Tests in ladles of granular and powdered form only give 
similar results to that of the cupola, and not sufficient practical 



CHEMISTRY 55 

results were obtained in the softening of the iron to warrant a 
continuation of its use. 

Phosphorus- 

Phosphorus is a translucent, nearly colorless substance re- 
sembling wax, without taste, but having a peculiar smell. It is 
intensely inflammable and should be kept under water to protect 
it from light. When exposed to the air it emits white fumes, 
which are luminous in the dark. It may be obtained in two colors, 
the white and the red. It does not seem possible that this soft 
waxy substance that burns in the air without being ignited by heat 
or flame, should enter into combination with iron, and pass 
through the heat of a blast furnace and cupola without being 
entirely consumed, but such is the case. 

The white phosphorus in its pure state does not unite with 
iron, but the red, which contains impurities, enters into combina- 
tion readily with iron, as does also phosphoric acid, which, to a 
greater or less extent, is found in all iron ores and cannot be 
fully eliminated from it in the smelting of the ore. 

Phosphorus exists in iron as iron phosphide, which has a 
lower melting point than iron, and therefore separates from the 
latter in cooling, forming a network between the crystals. The 
effect of this separation upon cast iron is to weaken the iron, and 
to produce in wrought iron what is termed a red short iron. 
Phosphorus is a detriment in steel and wrought iron in any 
amount, and every possible means is taken to eliminate it from 
these metals. 

In cast iron, phosphorus acts as a flux upon the molten iron, 
giving to it life and increased flowing properties, and induces it 
to run up sharp in the lightest of castings. Without phosphorus 
in the iron many of the largest pieces of stove plate could not 
be cast, for many of these plates are so thin that the iron would 
be chilled by the damp sand of the mould to an extent that would 
not admit of it filling the mould and making a perfect casting. 
Phosphorus is therefore classed as the life and fluidity giver of 
foundry iron. 

It is the destroyer of strength in these irons, in the manner 
explained above, and also increases internal shrinkage in heavy 
castings by keeping the iron in a molten state for a greater length 
of time. The per cent, of it in iron must be graded to suit the 
thickness or weight of casting. . 



^6 CHBMtSl^RY 

Iron ores are found so highly impregnated with phosphofUS 
that iron, may be smelted from them containing as high as 20 
per cent, phosphorus, but these are seldom melted alone, as there 
is no market for such iron. It can also be combined with iron 
in the electric furnace up to 30 per cent., when it is termed 
ferro-phosphorus, but iron containing such high per cent, is not 
used in foundry practice. 

The per cent, of phosphorus commonly placed in mixtures 
for castings varies from 0.20 to 1.00 per cent., and with a very 
sluggish flowing pig iron or extremely light castings 1.50 per 
cent, is sometimes used. A good idea of the proper amount to 
use in the various lines of castings may be gained from our table 
of analysis of castings. It is a good plan to keep a little high 
phosphorus pig in stock for the purpose of doctoring sluggish 
iron. 

The apparent effect of phosphorus upon molten iron is to 
give it the appearance of being a white hot. very fluid iron, and 
this appearance becomes more marked as the phosphorus is in- 
creased. 

Manganese. 

Manganese is a metal which, when pure, is of a greyish 
white color, brittle and very hard, being capable of cutting glass. 
It is susceptible of the most perfect polish, and does not tarnish 
readily. It is obtained from manganese ores, of which there are 
a variety, some of which contain as high as 70 per cent, man- 
ganese. 

It is also found in combination with iron in iron ores, and 
may be smelted from these ores in a blast furnace and an iron 
produced, containing up to 40 per cent, manganese. This iron 
is given the name of Spiegel Iron, and is extensively used in steel 
making. 

Manganese is classed as a strengthener, hardener and chill 
giver in cast iron. This result is effected by decreasing silicon, 
eliminating graphite carbon and increasing combined carbon. For 
the purpose of effecting this change and giving a chill of a de- 
sired depth, manganese is extensively used by car wheel found- 
ries. For this purpose it is generally charged into the cupola 
with the iron, and either the metal or its ore are used. The per 
cent, of manganese or manganese ores required to effect this 
change depends upon the per cent, of silicon and graphite carbon 
that it is necessary to eliminate to effect this change. As the 



hiixture is made as near as possible to give the metal desired the 
per cent, of manganese used is generally small. The metal may 
also be used in ladles when only a slight change in the iron is 
required. To facilitate the rapid melting of the manganese by 
the molten iron, it is heated to almost the melting point in a forge 
or furnace before placing in the molten iron. This practice is 
also followed by many machine and jobbing foundries for special 
castings requiring strength or chill, and in many cases both 
strength and chill. 

These results are obtained only by the free use of the man- 
ganese metal or ore in the cupola or ladle, and they are practic- 
ally the only results that are obtained from the use of mangan- 
ese in any form with any degree of certainty in cast iron. The 
greater afifinity of manganese for sulphur than for iron and the 
uncertainty as to the per cent, of sulphur a semi-molten or 
molten iron may contain, even after an accurate analysis of the 
sulphur contents has been made before melting, makes the effect 
produced by manganese upon iron when placed in molten iron 
in a ladle very uncertain. 

This may be illustrated by the experience of a foundryman 
at Chicago Heights, 111., who had a five-ton casting to make that 
required a certain depth of chill, a very accurate mixture was 
made for this casting, and to insure it having the desired depth 
of chill, a certain per cent, of manganese was placed in the iron 
in the ladle. The casting when cold was found to have the de- 
sired chill. A few days later another casting from the same pat- 
tern was cast, exactly the same mixture of iron was made and 
melted with the same quality of coke, the same per cent, of man- 
ganese placed in the molten iron in the ladle and the castings 
when cold had no chill whatever. 

This failure of manganese to give a desired chill was at- 
tributed to the manganese having combined with sulphur for 
which it has a great affinity and had not affected the iron at all. 
But if there was sulphur in the iron, why did the manganese not 
combine with it and produce no chill in the first casting? And if 
there was no sulphur in the iron of the first heat, where did it 
come from in the second heat, when the same iron and fuel were 
used ? 

I have met other foundrymen who have had similar ex- 
periences, and these are phenomena that no one has yet been able 
to explain in a way that ha^ prevented them occurring again. 

That manganese is an eliminator of silicon was very clearly 
proven at the plant of the Raleigh Iron Works Co., Raleigh, 



58 fis^MisfRV 

N. C, a few yeafs ago. This firm bad a U. S. contract fof 
semi-steel projectiles, and to produce them had taken a much 
advertised course of instructions in the making of manganese 
semi-steel, which was not at all practical, and I was called upon 
by this company to locate their troubles. An investigation showed 
that under this instruction they were using in their mixture a 
high silicon pig, a high manganese pig, steel scrap and remelt, 
and charging a manganese ore with each charge of metal. An 
inspection of the castings when machined showed many of them 
to contain patches of pure white silica sand, and others of dross 
or dirt ; about 90 per cent, of the castings showed this condition 
and were condemned. This condition was undoubtedly due to the 
high manganese and steel separating the silicon from the iron. 
For when the manganese ore was left out, this condition in the 
castings improved and when the high manganese pig was reduced 
and steel increased, a perfect semi-steel casting was made. 



Ferro-Manganese. 

Ferro-manganese is a compound or alloy of iron and man- 
ganese. It is prepared by heat in the electric furnace and may 
be obtained, containing as high as 90 per cent, manganese. It is 
prepared for the purpose of treating cast iron and steel. 

For the treatment of cast iron it is prepared in three forms, 
the lump, granular and powdered form. The lump is recom- 
mended for use in the cupola, and the granular or powdered for 
use in the ladle. When used in the cupola the desired per cent. 
of the lump form is charged with the iron and melted with it; 
when used in the ladle, the granular or powdered form is used, 
and may be placed in the ladle before tapping and molten iron 
tapped upon it, or it may be sprinkled upon the stream as it 
flows from the cupola and carried into the ladle with the iron. 
Or placed upon the iron in the ladle and stirred in. All these 
methods of placing ferro-manganese in the iron have been tried 
out with no more satisfactory results than when the metal or ore 
i§ melted with the iron in the cupola. 

In my own experience and tests with manganese in cupola 
and ladles, I have met with many successes and many failures, 
and I have no faith whatever in manganese as an eliminator of 
sulphur and softener of iron, and very much prefer silicon for 



this purpose. As a strengthener of iron I have obtained far 
better results by the use of steel scrap than manganese. 

Sulphur. 

Sulphur, although classed in chemistry as a metal, has none 
of the properties of a real metallic metal, but is a hard brittle 
substance of a yellow color that is easily crushed and reduced 
to a powder. It may be obtained in two forms, the stick form 
and the powdered or sublime form, which is commonly known 
as brimstone. 

Sulphur is a very abundant substance in the mineral king- 
dom, and is found in most all of the metallic ores, and to a 
greater or less extent in all the mineral fuels. It is found in 
many of the iron ores, and has a strong affinity for iron, with 
which it enters into combination freely, and may be taken up 
from the smelting fuel of the blast furnace or the melting fuel 
of the cupola. 

Sulphur enters into combination with iron in two forms, 
as an iron sulphide and manganese sulphide. These are fine 
divisions made in laboratory practice which count for little in 
cupola practice, as both forms have a hardening and weaken- 
ing efifect upon cast iron, and it is only a difference of the de- 
grees of heat at which they are absorbed or separated from the 
iron. That sulphur has a decidedly hardening efifect and also 
weakening efifect upon iron has long been recognized by foundry- 
men, and that any benefit that might be derived from the harden- 
ing is destroyed by the weakening efifect which renders a sulphur 
hardened iron too weak for castings requiring hardness and 
strength. 

So well founded is the opinion against sulphur in iron, that 
every precaution is taken to prevent bringing it in contact with 
foundry irons, and many cars of coke have been condemned for 
being too high in sulphur, and even cupola and ladle daubing 
have been condemned as hardeners due to sulphur contained 
in the clay. 

Manganese has been found by chemists to prevent the 
hardening and weakening efifect of sulphur upon cast iron in 
laboratory practice, but manganese alone is a hardener of cast 
iron, and combined with sulphur forms manganese sulphide, which 
is also a hardener of iron. It is only below the point of satura- 
tion of both that manganese acts as a destroyer of sulphur and 
a softener, and the undetermined per cent, of manganese and 



60 CiflEMisfRir 

sulphur present to form a sulphide, accounts for the softening 
of iron by manganese in one heat and the production of a chill 
in another, and as there is no way to determine the per cent, of 
sulphur the iron has absorbed from the fuel, at the melting point, 
the exact per cent, of manganese cannot be determined that will 
destroy sulphur only to the extent of not forming a sulphide 
and act as a softener, therefore, manganese cannot be depended 
upon as a softener. 

In my own experience in the elimination of sulphur I have 
found silicon to be far more efifective than manganese. While 
silicon is not classified as an eliminator of sulphur, it is a soft- 
ener of iron, by increasing graphite carbon, and sulphur is a 
hardener of iron. An increase of silicon in the mixture increases 
its softening effect to an extent that offsets the hardening effect 
of sulphur. I have been able many times to produce a good soft 
iron in this way when sulphur ran high in the pig and scrap, and 
also when the hardness was due to high sulphur in the melting 
coke. I have also advised this method to a number of our stu- 
dents who complained of high sulphur in their coke and in each 
case they reported satisfactory results. 

Sulphur as a Hardener. 

A high sulphur pig and selected high sulphur scrap are fre- 
quently melted in a cupola for hard castings and in case the 
iron is not of the desired degree of hardness, stick sulphur is 
sometimes charged with the coke to add more sulphur to the 
iron. 

This is the very poorest kind of hard iron practice, for a sul- 
phur hardened iron is brittle, inclined to crumble, and does- not 
possess the wearing properties usually required in a hard casting, 
and the melting of such iron is very destructive to a cupola 
lining. A founder melting this kind of iron informed me that it 
was necessary to reline his cupola every heat after melting a 
seven-ton heat of this iron in a thirty-five-inch cupola. I advised 
him to melt a low sulphur iron with 50 per cent, steel scrap. This 
he did and reported a far superior metal for his hard castings 
than with the high sulphur iron, and the destruction of cupola 
lining was no greater than when melting a regular mixture of pig 
and cast scrap. 

Another very bad and expensive practice is the hardening 
of iron by adding sulphur to it in the ladle for a few hard iron 
castings. A number of failures to make any marked change in 
the hardness of the iron in this way have been recorded, due to 



CHEMISTRY 61 

the failure of the moUen iron to absorb the sulphur. In cases 
where success was recorded it was found that about twelve 
pounds of sulphur was required for a hundred pounds of iron 
to change a grey iron into a white iron. The greater part of this 
large amount of sulphur goes off in fumes, and it is only with 
very hot iron and constantly stirring the sulphur down into the 
molten iron that even this amount can be made to change a grey 
iron into a white iron. 

Some years ago, antimony was quite extensively used for 
the hardening of iron in ladles, but this process proved unreliable, 
and I have not heard of it being used for this purpose for many 
years. 

The best way I have found of hardening iron in a ladle is 
to drop light steel turnings into the molten metal, with a close 
metal to begin with, and very hot iron, a white iron for light 
castings, or a chill on a heavy casting may be obtained by drop- 
ping all the turnings into the hot iron that it will melt and 
absorb before becoming too dull for pouring. Drop the turn- 
ings in from the hand in a way that will not admit of them 
balling up, and stir them into the molten metal with a hot rod. 

The following interesting paper on sulphur in a soft grey 
iron was read at the Boston, Mass.. Convention of the American 
Foundrymen's Association, September, 1917, and may prove of 
interest and value to our students. 

High Sulphur In Soft Grey Iron 

By T. Mauland, Deering Works, International Harvester Co., Chicago 

Abstract of Paper. 

In spite of the fact that high sulphur is almost universally 
considered detrimental to good results in the foundry, the author 
states he has observed that castings up to 0.12 per cent will some- 
elements the same, the castings will be hard with sulphur less 
than 0.09 per cent. It may be inferred, therefore, that sulphur 
is not the determining element in the hardness of grey-iron 
castings. In his' own cupola mixtures the author has found it 
possible to substitute 20 per cent of ofif-grade pig iron in place 
of 10 per cent of No. 1 cast scrap and 10 per cent No. 2 foundry 
pig without detrimental results. Analyses of a lot of test cast- 
ings ranging from 0.143 to 0.170 per cent, sulphur are presented 
anrl it is stated that in every case the castings machined soft. 
The author concludes that sulphur in itself is not nearly so bad 
as it has been painted. He also believes the reason good cast- 



62 CHEMISTRY 

ings sometimes are obtained with high sulphur iron Hes in the 
fact that the oxygen in such cases usually is low. 

Sulphur is considered cast iron's worst enemy, and many 
of the troubles of the foundry are laid to it whenever it happens 
to be high. Authorities say that sulphur combines carbon, 
increases hardness, shrinkage and chill ; reduces strength ; causes 
dirty iron, blow holes and shrinkage cracks ; and makes iron 
congeal quickly. Generally this is true, but my experience has 
been that sulphur within certain limits increases strength in 
soft iron. For agricultural or similar classes of castings, speci- 
fications have called for a maximum sulphur of 0.08 or 0.09 per 
cent. The American Society for Testing Materials, I under- 
stand, is considering increasing this limit to 0.10 per cent. 

In castings of this class; sulphur is generally used as an 
indication of the hardness. I have noticed, however, that cast- 
ings with a higher sulphur, up to 0.12 per cent, will sometimes 
be good, strong and soft, while at other times, with the other 
elements, the same, the castings will be hard with sulphur less 
than 0.09 per cent. It has been my experience that when using 
a mixture of, say, 55 per cent pig, 35 per cent home scrap and 
10 per cent No. 1 cast scrap, and it became desirable on account 
of economy to substitute 0.12 to 0.15 per cent sulphur off-grade 
pig iron for the No. 1 cast scrap, 1 could use a mixture of 45 
per cent pig iron, 35 per cent home scrap and 20 per cent off- 
grade pig. In other words, I would use 20 per cent off-grade 
pig in place of 10 per cent No. 1 cast scrap, although the average 
sulphur analysis of the scrap would be better than the off-grade 
pig. The analysis of the castings from the off-grade pig mixture 
would be the same, excepting it would show a higher sulphur. 
But the iron would be just as good and just as soft as the lower 
sulphur iron made from the scrap mixture. 

A Bad Reputation 

In steel, sulphur has had the same bad reputation that it has 
in the foundry. Bessemer steel specifications generally call for 
0.08 per cent or less, and open-hearth specifications for 0.05 
per cent or less, as the maximum sulphur limit. Dr. J. S. 
Unger, of the United States Steel Corporation, has made some 
extensive tests with high sulphur in open-hearth steel. These 
tests, which were made with varying sulphur contents from 
0.03 to 0.25 per cent, showed that good steel could be made with 
the higher sulphur. High-sulphur steel was made into rivets, 
chain, sheets, wire, tubes, pipes, forgings, wire rope, rails, etc. 



CHEMISTRY 63 

These tests showed that high-sulphur steel could be made with 
mechanical and working properties equal to that of low-sulphur 
steel. 

Dr. J. E. Stead, the eminent English metallurgist, in _a 
paper before the British Iron and Steel Institute, cites experi- 
ments with steel containing from 0.10 to 0.50 per cent, sulphur 
with as good, or superior mechanical properties, as steel of lower 
sulphur. The following extracts are taken from his paper: 

"It was proved long ago that manganese counteracted the 
effect of sulphur, but books have been written in which sulphur 
was condemned, and engineers and their experts read those 
books and copied them, so that even to this day steel rails, etc., 
of exceptional quality are rejected because the sulphur exceeds 
arbitrary limits, even when all mechanical tests proved that 
material is perfect. Steel high in sulphur resembles wrought 
iron and is more or less fibrous. It is a fact that steel called 
free-cutting fibrous steel is used today and the peculiar proper- 
ties referred to are due to the deliberate introduction of sulphur 
into the steel. Such material contains about 0.15 per cent 
sulphur. Sulphur, then, may be regarded as a friend when it 
is used intelligently and is not invariably the enemy it is repre- 
sented to be." 

Some High-Sulphur Iron Soft 
Within the last few months I have run into some rather 
extraordinary cases of high sulphur iron showing up very soft. 
The casting used as a test piece was a small grey iron box 
or bushing 2i/2 inches long with a ^-inch core. The lighter 
portion, including the upper end, is 3-16-inch thick. The 
heavier portion is >4-inch thick. The ^-inch cored hole is 
reamed to a 0.890-inch hole on a gang drill. This machining 
is done with a feed of 4% inches per minute. This casting 
is one that is very apt to cause trouble in machining on account 
of a hard upper edge in the lighter section. Ordinarily, it is 
not safe to run this iron over 0.10 per cent in sulphur, and this 
casting has given troul)le with sulphur as low as 0.08* per cent. 
In the cases just mentioned, where the iron was satisfactorily 
soft, the analyses were as follows : 

Total 
Sulphur Silicon Manganese Phosphorus Carbon 
Lot No. Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent 

1 0.156 2.11 0.44 0.70 3.39 

2 0.143 2.12 0.44 0.70 3.47 

3 0.145 1.93 0.46 0.40 

4 0.170 2.09 0.44 0.40 



64 CHEMISTRY 

The casting, the small box previously referred to, machined 
soft from all of the four lots. 

The high sulphur in lots Nos. 1 and\ 2 was obtained acci- 
dentally. I had already tested the castings for softness, and 
was very much surprised that analysis showed such high sulphur. 
The high sulphur in lots Nos. 3 and 4 was obtained by usm^ 
high-sulphur pig and adding sulphur to the molten metal. 

Not So Bad As Painted 

The cases of good iron with high sulphur and many cases 
of poor iron of practically the same analysis but lower sulphur, 
lead me to believe that sulphur in itself is not nearly so bad as 
it has been painted. Where sulphur is blamed for poor iron, I 
do not say that this iron would not have been better had it been 
lower in sulphur, but I believe that in most cases iron higher 
in sulphur could be made that would give satisfactory castings. 

At this time I will not try to explain why some high-sulphur 
iron makes very good castings, but I am inclined to believe that 
oxygen, as described in papers written by J. E. Johnson, Jr., ope 
of which was read before this association several years ago, has 
much to do with it. The oxygen in the four lots cited above 
was very low, but I have not had the opportunity to do enough 
work along this line to draw definite conclusions. 

I intend to make some more experiments with even higher 
sulphur, but time will not permit the results to be included in 
this paper. All sulphur determinations mentioned have been 
checked by at least one other laboratory besides our own. 

Foundry Foreman As a Chemist 

We receive many letters from foundry foremen inquiring 
if we teach foundry chemistry or give instructions in the making 
of analysis of foundry irons. We do not give such a course, 
for chemistry is a science that is separate and distinct from 
foundry practice and for which a foreman has no use as a money 
maker, and is too expensive as an accomplishment for a work- 
ingman, for the following reasons : 

A four-year course of study is required by the various 
colleges and technical schools to graduate a student in chemistry. 
And if he is not bright and table to pass his examination one 
or more years may be required. 

Chemistry has a language or terms of its own that are not 
understood by a man without a technical education, and to taice 



CHEMISTRY 65 

a text-book on chemistry and learn the meaning of the various 
chemical terms from a chemical dictionary is an endless task. 
After these terms have been learned, it is a very slow and 
tedious undertaking to learn the mode of making analysis from 
books alones Very few who undertake the study of chemistry, 
in this way, make a success of it. And probably not more than 
one foundry foreman in a hundred would follow it up to a suc- 
cess. To employ an instructor for instructions in analysis of 
foundry irons alone would cost from twenty-five to a hundred 
dollars and require considerable time, which cannot always be 
J pent at laboratories in the evening, as such instructions are 
generally given in laboratories where only day work is done. 
After the student has completed his course and is competent 
to make analysis he must have a laboratory before he can do 
the work. To fit up a laboratory, with the present war prices, 
would cost five hundred dollars, and the average price of each 
determination, which has been estimated at one dollar and 
twenty-five cents, would probably cost two dollars. To fit up a 
laboratory in a home, where there are children, a special room 
that can be securely locked is required, for all the acids and 
chemicals used in analysis are either poisonous or injurious 
to the skin, and much of the apparatus is glass and easily broken, 
which makes a laboratory not a very desirable place to have 
children play in. For all this outlay, there is not one dollar of 
return, for a foreman, as a rule, that can make analysis is paid 
no more salary than one who cannot. For he can only make 
such analysis at the foundry, by neglecting his other duties as 
a foreman, and on his regular time. If he makes analysis at 
his home, this is regarded as part of his duty, in locating' foundry 
troubles and overcoming them, and is seldom paid for, and even 
if paid for at a fair price for each determination, the average 
foundry has not a sufficient amount of this work to pay for 
keeping up a laboratory. For mechanical analysis or tests answer 
every purpose in keeping iron up to the standard, and it is only 
when this fails that analysis is resorted to to locate the trouble. 

All the knowledge of chemistry a foreman requires is a 
knowledge of the four metalloids analyzed for by f urnacemen 
and furnished with each car of pig and their efifects upon the 
iron. This enables him to manipulate his irons, for the produc- 
tion of an iron of a desired quality, as accurately as a chemist 
can do, and it is only when this fails that an analysis is required 
to determine if the blast furnace analysis is correct, and, if so, 
what other metalloid in the iron is causing the trouble. This 
can be done at a less cost by a testing laboratory than a foundry- 
man or foreman can maintain a laboratory to do it. 



Mixing Iron by Analysis 

Chapter V. 

Before attempting to mix iron by analysis, it is necessary 
to learn and fully understand the effect of the four important 
elements or metalloids upon the iron. These are silicon, phos- 
phorus, manganese and sulphur. 

Silicon is a softener and strengthener of cast iron, up to 
a certain point which is determined by the thickness, size and 
shape of casting. For stove plate and light bench work cast- 
ings, a high silicon gives a soft, strong iron. Silicon 2.50 to 3.00 
is commonly placed in mixtures for these lines of castings, 
which, with very few exceptions, are the lightest of cast iron 
castings-. Analysis of these castings has shown that castings 
contain from 2.25 to 2.50 sil. are the strongest and softest cast- 
ings. Below these points they are liable to be hard and brittle. 
The higher silicon stated above is placed in mixtures for melt- 
ing and is designed to cover error in analysis and excessive loss 
in melting and insure this per cent in the castings. In case the 
castings are found to be running hard, due to error in analysis 
of pig, or to sulphur in coke, the silicon should at once be in- 
creased in a mixture to a point that will insure soft castings. 
This may be done by increasing the per cent, of the highest sili- 
con pig in the mixture, or by placing in the mixture a small per 
cent, of pig containing from 4.00 to 5.00 per cent, silicon. ■ 

The above mixture will be found suitable for light rimmed 
pulleys and any casting running out to a thin edge, but is too 
open and weak for heavy castings. For heavier castings a 
lower silicon is required, and in mixtures it is graded from 2.50 
to as low as 0.50. The latter for a white, very hard iron. For 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 67 

light jobbing castings, 2.00 per cent is generally placed in mix- 
tures, and if there are sufficient, very light castings requiring 
a very soft iron, one or more charges may be made on the bed 
or in the first part of the heat, of 2.25 to 2.50 sil., and for a 
limited amount of close or hard iron, one or more low silicon 
charges are placed in ihe lattei pait of the heat. When melting 
soft and close or hard irons in the same heat, it is the practice 
to charge the soft iron first, and if there is any unimportant 
or common castings to pour them between the soft and hard 
iron. This is done to prevent soft iron getting into the hard 
castings and hard iron getting into the soft ones. If there is 
no common work to be cast, and all the castings are to be either 
soft or hard, the practice is to place sufficient extra coke be- 
tween the soft and hard iron to retard the melting of the hard 
iron, until all the soft iron can be drawn from the cupola. This 
insures a separation of the irons and prevents mixing of the 
soft and hard to any extent that destroys the castings either way. 

An excess of silicon reduces the fluidity of molten iron, 
reduces the strength of the iron, and places a grit into it that 
makes it difficult to machine ; about 3.00 per cent is the limit 
for a good soft casting. 

As high as 12 per cent silicon iron is being cast for special 
purposes. These castings are very weak and have to be handled 
as carefully as glass to avoid breaking them. These castings 
are classed as acid-resisting castings. 

The per cent of silicon generally placed in the various lines 
of castings may be learned from our table of analysis of cast- 
ings, which gives the high and low per cent that was found by 
analysis of many castings cast at different foundries. The wide 
difference between the high and low for some castings is due to 
some parties requiring a softer iron than others in the same 
type of castings, and also, in some cases, to undetermined metal- 
loids in the iron, causing it to run harder or softer than other 
irons containing the same per cent of silicon. 

In melting old cast promiscuous scrap, it is generally figured in 
mixtures at 1.75 sil., and selected scrap is figured at what analysis 
of castings states such castings contain, which varies from 0.50 
to 2.50 sil., and in making mixtures a sufficiently high per cent 
of silicon is added in the pig to bring the total silicon in the 
mixture un to the point desired in castings, after allowing for 
loss of silicon in melting. When a harder iron is desired than 
that indicated by the silicon in the scrap, a lower silicon pig is 
used to bring the silicon of the mixture down to the per cent 



68 MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 

desired. By varying* the per cent of silicon in a mixture in 
this way, through the pig, as good castings can be made from 
scrap as with all pig. By the use of a high silicon pig, as high 
as 75 per cent scrap may be melted for soft castings. 

Manganese is classed as a strengthener, softener, hardener 
and chill-increaser of cast iron, and it also has a chilling or 
dulling effect upon molten iron in a ladle, giving to it a yellowish 
or dull red appearance and reducing its fluidity and flowing 
properties. These many properties attributed to manganese 
make it the most uncertain metalloid the founder has to deal 
with, for it may fail to produce any one of these effects when 
desired and produce them when not desired. 

This uncertainty of the effect of manganese in cast iron is 
due to the action of other metalloids in the iron, upon the 
manganese and iron, and it is only by getting these in a proper 
proportion to the manganese that the desired effect upon an 
iron can be obtained. 

Silicon has a powerful control over manganese as a hardener 
and chill producer, without affecting its strengthening effect, when 
in proper proportions. This is illustrated in the average mixture 
made for stove plate and chilled car wheels, which are as fol- 
lows : Stove plate, Sil. 2.25-2.75 ; Phos. 0.60-0.90; Mang. .60-.80. 
Car wheels, Sil. 0.60-0.70; Phos. .30-.40 ; Mang._ .30-.40. It will 
be observed that the manganese is twice as high in the stove 
plate mixture, required to be soft and strong, as in the car wheel 
mixture, required to be strong with a deep chill. This would 
seem to indicate that manganese was a softener rather 'than a 
hardener and chill giver; but it will be observed that silicon in 
the stove plate mixture is almost four times as high as in the 
car wheel mixture, which prevents its hardening effect upon 
the iron, while retaining the strengthening effect in these thin 
castings. Were these two mixtures to be reversed, the stove 
plate mixture poured for car wheels, scarcely a perceptible chill 
would be found on the chilled tread of the wheels, and the car 
wheel mixture would give a white, hard, easily broken stove 
plate that could not be used at all. The above stove plate rnix- 
ture gives an excellent iron for this plate and other very light 
castings, btit would be entirely too open, soft and weak for. heavy 
castings. For such castings the silicon should be reduced to 
a point that will give an iron of the desired softness for mach- 
ining and possessing maximum strength. This result may be 
obtained for many castings by both a lower manganese and lower 
silicon in the same mixture. 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 69 

Phosphorus is classed as a fluidity giver or increaser iu 
cast iron. It will be observed that in the above mixture there 
is a wide difference in the per cent of phosphorus they contain. 
This is due to the stove plate requiring a more fluid and longer- 
lived iron to cast the large, thin plates of stove plate than is 
required to cast the thick web, heavy tread and hub of a car 
wheel, and also to the fact that a low phosphorus iron changes 
from a liquid to a solid form quickly, gives a deeper chill than 
a high phosphorus, one which retains its fluidity for a longer 
time. 

Carbon is the true fluidity giver and the maker of cast iron, 
for an iron entirely free from carbon cannot be cast, except at 
a temperature far above the casting temperature of steel, and 
even then, it cannot be cast into thin plates in a mould and a 
perfect casting produced. Graphite carbon gives a more fluid 
and longer-lived iron than combined carbon, and, therefore, a 
high silicon iron holds its fluidity longer and flows more freely 
than a low silicon iron. 

Phosphorus, although classed as a fluidity giver, is only 
an adjunct to carbon as a fluidity giver, and is only considered 
of importance in mixtures for very light castings. Very few 
of the foundry pig iron contain a sufficiently high phosphorus 
to injure the strength of the iron, and little attention is paid 
to it in mixtures, except for special castings, which may be 
learned from our analysis of castings. 1.00 per cent phosphorus 
is about the high limit for light castings, and 0.10 thp low for 
special castings. For general run of castings 0.20 to 0.40 per 
cent. 

Sulphur is a hardener and reducer of strength in cast iron 
and an undesirable metalloid in a foundry iron for any casting. 
Practically none of the foundry pig irons contain sufficient sul- 
phur to be objectionable in castings, but cupola melted iron takes 
up sulphur from a high sulphur coke in melting. This sulphur 
hardens the iron to an extent that frequently makes it unsuitable 
for work to be cast. Manganese is recommended as a preventative 
of this hardening of the iron, but manganese is also a hardener 
of iron, and it has not been found practical in cupola melting 
to define accurately the exact per cent of manganese that will 
prevent sulphur hardening and not cause manganese hardening, 
and as one hardening is as objectionable in castings to be machined 
as the other, the use of manganese as a preventative of hardness 
due to high sulphur coke has been almost entirely abandoned. 
Silicon is not an eliminator of sulphur, but it is a softener and 
offsets the hardening effect of sulphur, and by increasing the 



70 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 



silicon in a mixture I have been able, many times, to melt iron 
with coke containing more than 1 per cent sulphur and produce 
good soft castings, even for stove plates, and I would advise an 
increase of silicon rather than of manganese as a preventative of 
hardness due to a high sulphur coke. 

Tabulation of Material to be Charged and Method of Figuring the 

Mixture. 





Weight 


Analysis. 


Weight in Charge. 


Kind of Metal. 


Lbs. 


Si]., Sul., 
Per Per 
Cent. Cent. 


Phos. 
Per 
Cent. 


Mang. 
Per 
Cent. 


Sil., 
Per 
Cent. 


Sul., 
Per 
Cent. 


Phos. 
Per 
Cent. 


Mang. 
Per 
Cent. 




.400 
2.000 
1.600 
1.600 
4.000 

.800 


0.10 0.07 
1.70 0.10 
0.70 0.10 
3.00 0.03 
1.75 0.07 
3.50 0.0'25 


0.10 
1.00 
1.50 
0.80 
0.30 
0.07 


0.60 
0.60 
0.30 
1.25 
0.60 
0.60 


0.40 
34.00 
11.20 
48.00 
70.00 
28.00 


0.28 
2.00 
1.90 
0.48 
2.80 
0.20 


0.40 
20.00 
24.00 
12.80 
12.00 

0'.56 


2.40 


Machinery Scrap 

High Sul. Suth 

No. 1 X 


12.00 

4.80 

20.00 


No. 2 Foundry 

High Sil. Iron 


24.00 
4.80 


Total 


10.400 








191.60 


7.36 


69.76 


68.00 












Average Per Cent. 










1.84 


0.071 


0.67 


0.65 















The above table shows the method of figuring mixtures by 
analysis and the system of keeping a record of mixtures in charge 
and heat for reference. 

Under analysis is placed the known per cent of various 
elements in one hundred pounds of iron. The weight in charge is 
a multiple of this per cent: thus, steel scrap. Si 0.10 in 100 lbs. 
of scrap. 400 lbs. gives weight of elements in the charge. 
4X10:=.40. The per cent in. each kind of metal is carried out in 
this way and the total of each element in charge is divided by 
weight of metal in the charge. To the total weight of elements 
is added two ciphers before dividing; this gives per cent and 
fraction of per cent; three ciphers added gives thousandths of 
per cent. Thus, sul. 7.36, add three ciphers. 7360000. and divide 
by total weight of metal in charge : 10400-^736000=0.071. The 
small fraction remaining after dividing for hundredths or 
thousandths is not considered of importance and the whole num- 
ber nearest the figure is taken as result, which in this case is 
0.071 or 0.07 per cent. 

The per cents of element in scrap are estimated from shape of 
scrap, which indicates the Hne of casting to which they belong; 
and analysis of castings gives the per cent in this line of castings, 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 71 

allowance being made for loss in melting. Analyses of pig are 
made from a few pigs, taken from a carload, and only represent 
approximately the per cent of the various elements in the entire 
carload of iron. It is, therefore, not necessary, or the practice, 
to figure on small fractions or to place odd pounds in the charges. 
50 to 100 pounds is the rule in making charges. 

Special Pig 

In making mixtures by analysis the best results are obtained 
by having desired metalloids in the pig, in place of melting ferro- 
alloy ores or metals in the cupola with the iron, or melting them 
in ladles of molten iron to have them absorbed by the iron. For 
the metalloids in the pig are already alloyed with the iron, and 
when melted with an iron deficient in a desired metalloid mixes 
with it in melting and imparts to the entire mixture the efifect 
of the desired metalloid upon the iron. 

It is the practice of founders making special lines of cast- 
ings to order iron containing the per cent of the various metal- 
loids that has proven satisfactory for their line of castings and 
to carry in the yard a few tons of special pig containing an 
excess or deficiency of the most important or controlling metal- 
loid in their mixture. As a softener a 3.00 to 5.00 per cent sili- 
con pig is carried, and in case the regular pig is a little below 
the standard, or coke a little high in sulphur, and castings too 
hard, a sufficient per cent of this pig is placed in the mixture 
to increase the silicon of the mixture and bring the iron up to 
the standard of softness. 

Foundries making hard castings carry a 0.50 to 1.00 silicon 
placed in the mixtures to decrease the silicon and increase hard- 
ness or closeness of the iron. 

As a fluidity increaser, a 1.00 to 2.00 per cent phosphorus 
pig is carried by founders making very light castings, to make 
up any deficiency of phosphorus in the mixture and increase 
fluidity in the molten iron. 

A high manganese pig is also carried by founders making 
close, strong, hard or chilled castings, to close up and strengthen 
iron for special castings, give increased hardness or increased 
depth of chill when the mixture is not up to the standard. 

Pig containing these excessive high or low metalloids are 
seldom used in regular mixtures, as a pig iron containing as 
near as possible the required metalloid in castings gives a more 
even iron in the casting. But when used in mixtures containing 



72 MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 

near the per cent in the special pig this unevenness is not noticed 
if the pig is broken small and evenly distributed in charging. 

With these high metalloid pigs an iron of any desired 
quality may be made with a mixture of pig or scrap if the iron 
is tapped into a large mixing ladle or one charge may be melted 
for special castings. A good idea of the per cent of the various 
metalloids that have given the best results in the various lines 
of castings may be gained from our analysis of castings. The 
high and low found in the analysis of many castings from 
different irons are due to undetermined elements in the iron, 
which makes it necessary to place certain metalloids higher in 
one iron than in others, and a good plan is to use a per cent 
between the high and low to begin with, and vary it to suit the 
iron in the casting. 

Chemical Standard for Iron Castings 

Silicon, Sulphur, Phos., Mang.. 

Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Acid Resisting Castings 

1.00—2.00 und .05 und .40 1.00—1.50 

Agricultural Machinery, Ordinary 

2.90—2.50 .06— .08 .60— .80 .60— .80 

Agricultural Machinery, Very Thin 

2.25—2.75 .06— .08 .70— .90 .50— .70 

Air Cylinders 

l.ba-1.75 und .09 .30— .50 .70— .90 

Ammonia Cylinders 

1.00—1.75 und .09 .30— .50 .70— .90 

Annealing Boxes for Malleable Casting Work 

.65 .05 .10— .20 .20 

Annealing Boxes, Pots and Pans 

1.40—1.60 und .06 und .20 .60—1.00 

Automobile Castings 

1.75—2.25 und .08 .40— .50 .60— .80 

Automobile Cylinders 

1.75—2.00 und .08 .40— .50 .60— .80 



MIXING IRON BY ANALVSiS 



73 



Silicon, 
Per Cent. 


Sulphur, 
Per Cent. 


Phos., 
Per Cent. 


Mang., 
Per Cent. 


Auto m b He Flyzvh eels 

2.25—2.50 und .07 


.40— .50 


.50- .70 


Balls for Ball Mills 
1.00—1.25 


und .08 


und .20 


.60—1.00 


Bed Plates 
1.25—1.75 


und .10 


.30— .50 


.60— .80 


Boiler Castings 
2.00—2.50 


und .06 


und .20 


.60— 100 


Brake Shoes 
1.40_1.60 


.08— .10 


.30 


.50— .70 


Car Castings, Grey 
1.50—2.25 


Iron 
und .08 


.40— .60 


.60— .80 


Car Wheels, Chilled 
.60— .70 


.08— .10 


.3O-.40 


.50— .60 


Chilled Castings 
.75—1.25 


.08— .10 


.20— .40 


.80-1.00 


Chills 

1.75—2.25 


und .07 


.20— .40 


.60-1.00 


Collars arid Couplings for Shafting 
1.75—2.00 und .08 


.40— .50 


.60- .80 


Cotton Machinery 
2.00—2.25 


und .08 


.60— .80 


.60—. 80 


Crusher Jaws 
.80—1.00 


.08— .10 


.20— .40 


.80—1.00 


Cutting Tools, Chilled Cast Iron 
1.00—1.25 und .08 


.20— .40 


.60— .80 


Dies for Drop Hammers 

1.25—1.50 und .07 


und .20 


.60— .80 


Diamond Polishing 
2.70 


Wheels 
und .06 


.30 


.44 



74 Mtxll^Ci IROM fiV AMAtVsf^ 



SilicoH, Sulphur, Phos., Mang., 

Per Cent Per Cent. Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Dynamos and Motor Frames, Bases and Spiders, Large 

2.00—2.50 und .08 .50— .80 .30— .40 

Dynamos and Motor Frames, Bases and Spiders, Small 

1.50—3.00 und .08 .50— .80 .30— .40 

Electrical Castings 

2.00—3.00 und .08 .50— .80 .30— .40 

Engine Frames 

1.25—2.00 und .09 .30— .50 .60—1.00 

Farm Implements 

2.00—2.50 .06— .08 .50— .80 .60— .80 

Fire Pots 

2.00—2.50 . .06 .20 .60-1.00 

Fly Wheels, Small 

1.50-2.25 .08 .40— .60 .50— .70 

Friction Clutches 

1.75—2.00 .0&— .10 und .30 .50— .70 

Furnace Castings 

2.00—2.50 .06 und .20 .60—1.00 

Gas Engine Cylinders 

1.00—1.75 .08 .20— .40 .70— .90 

Gears, Heavy 

1.00—1.50 .08— .10 .30— .50 .80—1.00 

Gears, Medium 

1.50—2.00 .09 .40— .60 .70— .90 

Gears, Small 

2.00—2.50 .06 .50— .70 .60— .80 

Grate Bars 

2.00—2.50 .06 .20 .60—1.00 

Grinding Machinery, Chilled Castings 

.50— .75 " .02 .45 1.50—2.00 



kmkG IKON BY ANALYSIS 



% 



Silicon, Sulphur, 

Per Cent. Per Cent. 

Gun Carriages 

1.0O-1.25 .06 

Gun Iron 

1.00—1.25 .06 

Hangers for Shafting 

1.00—2.00 .08 

Hardzuare Light 

2.25—2.75 .08 

Heat Resisting Iron 

1.25—2.50 .06 

Holloiv Ware 

2.25—2.75 .08 

Housing for Rolling Mills 
1.00—1.25 .08 

Hydraulic Cylinders, Heavy 
.80—1.20 .10 

Hydraulic Cylinders, Medium 
1.20—1.60 .09 

Ingot Molds and Stools 

1.25—1.50 .06 

Locom-otive Castings, Heavy 
1.25—1.50 .08 

Locomotive Castings, Light 
1.50—2.00 .08 

Locomotive Cylinders 

l.OC^l.50 .08— .10 

Machinery Castings, Heavy 
1.00—1.50 .10 

Machinery Castings, Medium 
1.50—2.00 .09 



Phos.. 
Per Cent. 



.20— .30 
.20— .30 
.40— .50 
.50— .80 
.10— .20 
.50^ .70 
.20— .30 
.20— .40 
.30— .50 
10.— .20 
.30— .50 
.40— .60 
.30— .50 
.30— .50 
.40— .60 



Mang., 
Per Cent. 



.80-1.00 
.80—1.25 
.60— .80 
.50— .70 
.60—1.00 
.50— .70 
.80—1.00 
.80—1.00 
.70- .90 
.60—1.00 
.70— .90 
.60— .80 
.80—1.00 
.80—1.00 
.60— .80 



7^6 krxiNG Iron bV ANAivsis 




Silicon, 
Per Cent. 


Sulphur, 
Per Cent. 


Phos., 
Per Cent. 


Mang., 
Per Cent. 


Machinery Castings, 
2.00—2.50 


Light 


.08 


.50— .70 


.50— .70 


Ornamental Work 

2.25—2.75 




.08 


.60—1.00 


.50— .70 


Permanent Mold Castings 
1.50—3.00 


.06 


.20— .40 


.30— .40 


Permanent Molds 
2.00—2.25 




.07 


.20— .40 


.60—1.00 


Piano Plates 
2.00—2.25 




.07 


.40— .60 


.60— .80 


Pillow Blocks 
1.50—1.75 




.08 


.40— .50 


.60— .80 


Pipe 

1.50—2.00 




.10 


.50— .80 


.60— .80 


Pi/>^ Fittings 
1.75—2.50 




.08 


.50— .80 


.60— .80 


Fi/)^ Fittings for Si 
1.50—1.75 


iperheated Steanu Lines 

.08 .20— .40 


.70— .90 


Piston Rings 
1.75—2.00 




.08 


.30— .50 


.40— .60 


P/ow Points, Chilled 
.75—1.25 




.08 


.20— .30 


. .80—1.00 


Propeller Wheels 
1.00—1.75 




.10 


.20— .40 


.60—1.00 


Pulleys, Heuvy 
1.75—2.25 




.09 


.50— .70 


.60— .80 


Pullevs, Light 
2.25—2.75 




.08 


.60— .80 


.50— .70 


Pumps, Hand 
2.00—2.25 ' 




.08 


.60— .80 


.50— .70 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 77 



Silicon, Sulphur, 
Per Cent. Per Cent. 


Phos., 
Per Cent. 


Mang., 
Per Cent. 


Radiators 

2.0O-2.25 


.08 


.60— .80 


.50— .70 


Railroad Castings 
1.50—2.25 


.08 


.40— .60 


.60— .80 


Rolls, Chilled 
.60— .80 


.06 


.20— .40 


1.00—1.20 


Rolls, Unchilled 

.75 


.03 


.25 


.66 


Scales 

2.00—2.30 


.08 


.60—1.00 


.50— .70 


Slag Car Castings 
1.75—2.00 


.07 


.20— .30 


.70— .90 


Soil Pipe and Fittings 
1.75—2.25 


.09 


.50— .80 


.60— .80 


Steam Cylinders, Heavy 
1.00—1.25 


.10 


.20— .40 


.80—1.00 


Steam Cylinders, Medium 
1.50—1.80 


.07 


.30- .50 


.70— .90 


Stove Plate 
2.25—2.75 


.08 


.60— .90 


.60— .80 


Valves, Large 
1.25—1.75 


.09 


.20— .40 


.80—1.00 


Valves, Small 
1.75—2.25 


.08 


.30— .50 


.60— .80 


Water Heaters 
2.00-2.25 


.08 


.30— .50 


.60— .80 


Wheels, Large 
1.50—2.25 


.08 


.30— .40 


.60— .80 


Wheels, Small 
1.75—2.00 


.09 


.40— .50 


.50— .70 


White Iron Castings 
.50— .90 


.15 


.20— .70 


.20— .50 



78 



MIXING IRON BY ANAI^YSIS 



The above standard for analysis of iron castings represents 
the analysis suggested by a committee appointed by The Ameri- 
can Foundrymen's Association to establish a standard chemical 
analysis for iron castings. To establish this standard, drillings 
were taken from about thre hundred and fifty separate castings 
made at foundries located in different sections of the country, 
and melting iron made in their sections. These samples, for the 
same lines of castings, differed so widely in analysis that it was 
found impossible to state an analysis that would apply to all the 
various castings and iron from which the samples were taken, 
and the best they could do was to take an average of the high 
and low metalloids found bv the analysis and suggest this for a 
standard. But this can only be regarded as points between which 
to work in finding analysis that gives the best results with iron 
melted. 

Stove Plate Mixture. 

A mixture of iron for stove plate is made of No. 1 and No. 
2 plain, or X irons. No. 3 or the lower grades are never placed 
in this mixture, and old cast scrap is seldom placed in the 
mixture. It is said to be a poor foundry that cannot make its 
own scrap, and the stove foundries come fully up to the standard 
of a good foundry in this respect, for their remelt of gates, dis- 
count and broken castings frequently exceeds 50 per cent, of the 
heat, and seldom runs below 40 per cent. 

The No. 1 pig is the high silicon iron, and is regarded as the 
softener, and No. 2, the lower silicon iron, the strengthener. In 
case the plate is a little hard, or the per cent, of remelt unusually 
heavy, the per cent, of No. 1 in the mixture is increased as a 
softener, and No. 2 decreased. In case the iron is very soft, but 
weak, No. 2 is increased, as a strengthener, and No. 1 decreased. 
The changes to be madd are determined every day by tests of 
strength, hardness, and shrinkage of the iron. Shrinkage in cast- 
ings, to be assembled, is a very important matter ; this is increased 
by low silicon and decreased by high silicon ; the per cent, of 
shrinkage in these castings is of little importance so long as it 
remains the same from day to day. 

The iron from one furnace may be used for this mixture, 
but it is generally considered that a mixture of iron from furnaces 
smelting different mixtures of ores makes a better casting than 
the iron of one furnace, and it is the general practice to place 
two or three brands of iron in the mixture, and I have seen as 
high as seventeen brands and grades placed in a mixture. 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 79 

In ordering irons, it is the practice to specify the analysis 
desired and to have the siHcon of one brand run a little higher 
than required, to be used as a softener ; the phosphorus in 
another run high, to be used as a fluidity increaser, and the man- 
ganese of another run high as a strengthener. This enables the 
founder to vary them in a mixture to give an iron of a desired 
quality, without making a radical change of mixture by using a 
special pig, and gives a more even iron in the casting. 

Five per cent, steel scrap has been found to increase the 
strength of this mixture to the extent of five hundred pounds to 
the square inch, and greatly reduce breakage in tumbling and 
mounting, and it is now the practice of stove founders to melt in 
their mixture all of their mounting house steel scrap. To do this 
it is only necessary to increase the silicon to an extent that will 
carry the steel scrap without hardening. 

Testing Pig Iron. 

The analysis of foundry pig is generally supposed to fully 
indicate the characteristics of the iron when cast, but this has 
been proven many times not to be correct, and tons of castings 
have been lost by depending entirely upon analysis. The reasons 
for this are : 

First — The analysis is made from drillings taken from a few 
pigs in a furnace cast or from a carload of pig, and even when 
the analysis is perfectly accurate may not fairly represent the 
analysis of the entire cast, or carload. This has frequently 
occurred and caused the loss of many castings. 

Second — Only the four metalloids, silicon, sulphur, phos- 
phorous and manganese are analyzed for, except when special 
analysis is made, and the known efifect of one or more of these 
metalloids upon the iron when remelted may be entirely changed 
by the presence of unknown metalloid in the iron that has not 
been analyzed for. This has been found by further analysis to 
have been the cause of loss of castings in a number of instances. 

Third — An iron may show a proper analysis of the four 
metalloids and be a good iron for the work to be cast, whether 
soft or hard, when melted alone, but when melted in a mixture 
with other pig proved to be the worst of iron, or what is com- 
monly termed a hoodoo iron. This is due to the undetermined 
metalloids in the iron, being in proportion with the other four 
metalloids to produce an iron of a desired quality, but when 
melted with other irons in a mixture, the undetermined metal- 



"80 MIXING IRON BY ANAI^YSIS 

: loid throws the other metalloids out of proportion and an entirely 
different iron is produced. This was found to be the case at a 
foundry in East Cambridge, Mass., a few years ago, when a 
new iron was placed in the mixture for machined castings, and 
the castings found to be so hard that not one of them could be 
machined. 

This founder was melting three different brands of pig in 
their mixture ; it was desired to replace one of these brands with 
one from another furnace that was highly recommended. Before 
placing this iron in the mixture, it was carefully analyzed by the 
foundry chemist, and found to contain the desired per cent, of the 
four metalloids for soft machine castings, and it was placed in 
the mixture in the same per cent, as the iron that it replaced, 
with the result that the entire heat of castings was too hard 
for machining and had to be scrapped. A further analysis of this 
pig showed that it contained titanium, which was not a hardener 
in combination with the per cent, of the four metalloids of the 
pig, but, when melted with the other two pigs, one or both of 
which may have contained a higher per cent, of one or more 
metalloids with which the titanium entered into combination, to 
produce a hard iron. The metalloid that produced this effect 
when combined with the titanium was probably manganese, but 
I am not aware that this was fully determined. 

This serves to illustrate the uncertainty of results from 
analysis when only four metalloids are analyzed for, and to 
prevent heavy loss of casting, all new brands or cars of pig should 
be carefully tested before placed in the mixture for an entire heat. 

Testing may be done by placing 5 or 10 per cent, of it in the 
mixture and noticing the results, and increasing the per cent, 
each heat until the desired per cent, is placed in the mixture, or 
it may be tested by placing the full per cent, in the mixture for 
one charge and pouring this charge into an unimportant casting. 

Hoodoo Pig Iron. 

An apparently soft, even pig iron, in the fresh fracture, or 
indicated soft iron by analysis, that will not run soft, even, or 
strong when melted with other pig, remelt or scrap, is frequently 
condemned as a hoodoo iron and returned to the furnace, sold 
at a loss, or piled in the foundry yard, where it may remain for 
many years to rust and depreciate in value. 

In visiting foundries I have found many such piles of irOn, 
and have frequently been called upon to locate the cause of 
trouble in irons due to supposed hoodoo iron. I am not at all 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 81 

a believer in hoodoo iron, but believe that all foundry irons are 
good iron, if one knows how to mix and melt them properly, 
and I have never found a hoodoo iron that I was not able to 
mix and melt to produce a good iron for the work to be cast, from 
fracture indications alone. This should be a very easy matter to 
do for a man familiar with the chemistry of foundry iron. 

The cnaracteristics of the various grades of cast iron are 
given to them by the controlling or predominating metalloid in 
the iron. Thus graphite carbon control gives a soft iron, combined 
carbon a hard iron, silicon is the controller of carbon in cast iron, 
and by decreasing the silicon in a soft iron it is made a harder 
iron, and by increasing the silicon in a hard iron, it is made a softer 
iron. This may be decreased to an extent that makes a very soft 
iron a white iron, or increased to an extent that makes a white 
iron a very soft iron, and thus remove the hoodoo of either a 
too soft or hard iron. 

Sulphur, when in control, hardens iron ; silicon, when in 
control, softens iron, and it is only necessary to increase the 
silicon to remove the hoodoo of sulphur-hardened iron. Manga- 
nese is a hardener of iron when in control, but silicon is a con- 
troller of the hardening effect of manganese, and an increase of 
silicon removes this hoodoo. Ninety per cent, of the hoodoo 
pig piled in foundry yards can be made a good iron by these 
simple remedies, and jt is only necessary to carry a few tons of 
high or low metalloid pig to be placed in mixtures to eliminate 
these hoodoos from any iron. 

The hoodoo pig is described under testing pig iron, upon a 
more thorough analysis was found to contain titanium. Titanium 
is classed as a strengthener and hardener of iron, as is also man- 
ganese. The two other brands of pig with which this iron was 
melted were probably high in manganese and this, combined with 
the titanium to form a hardening metalloid, that overcame the 
silicon and reduced the graphite carbon to a point that the castings 
were hard. The preventative for this hardening would have been 
to melt this pig v/ith a low manganese pig or scrap, which would 
decrease the hardening tendency of the titanium, and, in case the 
iron was too hard, increase the silicon of the mixture. 

The hoodoo iron described under sandwich hard spots 
proved not to be a hoodoo iron at all, but only an iron that ran 
a li tie too hard for stove plate. This is a mistake that foundry- 
men are liable to make, and blame their iron troubles on the 
wrong iron, when tlie real cause of their trouble is in their sup- 
posed best iron. To avoid making this mistake, the per cent, of 



82 MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 

the best iron in the mixture should be varied as well as the poorest 
in making test mixtures. The real hoodoo ircm in this case proved 
to be the one presumed to be the b?st iron in the mixture, and 
one that had been used as the leading iron for years, but a 
change had been made in the mixture of ores from which it was 
smelted, which made it the poorest. 

Tills iron was withdrawn from the market by a change in 
the mixture of ores, and I never learned just what caused t^iis 
peculiarity of the irons. But it was either due to a metalloid 
that did not unite properly with the iron, smelted very hot, or 
to the iron being burned in smelting by the furnace working very 
hot. For it was not so marked in the No. 2 as in the No. 1, and 
entirely disappeared in the No. 3, which was smelted at a lower 
temperature. 

About the time these tests were made at Albany, I found a 
large pile of hoodoo iron at The Union Stove Works, Peekskill, 
N. Y., which had lain, in the yard for ten years ; this iron I did 
not attempt to melt with a No. 1 pig, after hearing their account 
of failures to use it, and my experience with No. 1 pig at Albany 
But selecting by fracture indications an inferior pig from their 
stock of pig on hand made them a very fine iron for stove plate, 
with a high per cent, of the hoodoo iron in the mixture. 

Hardness and Small Blotv Holes. 

Hardness and small blow holes are frequently found on the top 
of thin castings poured from the bottom, in which case the iron 
is required to rise to the top of the mould between walls of damp 
sand, or between the walls of the mould and green sand cores, as 
in the casting of cylinders from which piston packing rings are to 
be cut. This hardness may be due to the sand being worked too 
wet, and chilling the ire n as it rises in the mould. In which case the 
first iron rising would dry the sand and be the only iron to be 
chilled, and hardness would only be found at the top of the 
casting. This hardness miay occur vv^ben the castings are gated 
either at the top or bottom, but it is more extended when poured 
from the bottom. This hardness may be prevented by working 
the sand as dry as possible, or flowing the first iron out of the 
mould through a riser or into an ingot alongside of- the mould, 
through a gate from the casting to the ingot. Hardness and 
small blow holes are frequently due to too much care being 
taken in making a parting, such as ramming or packing the sand 
too hard around the pattern, to prevent ramming down, slicking 
with the trowel which closes up the pores of the sand and pre- 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 83 

vents the escape of gas from the sand and mould as rapidly as 
it should escape, or to swabbing to an extent that makes the sand 
so wet the molten iron will not lie quietly against it, which 
results in hardness and blow holes. To prevent this hardness and 
blow holes, carefully avoid all the above objectionable features 
in making the mould. Pour with a very hot iron, and if this 
does not prove a preventative, draw the first, or chilled, iron out 
of the mould through a riser or into an ingot or button. This 
precaution as a preventative applies to any castings, as well as 
those described where the hardness and blow holes appear along 
the parting line of the casting. 

Hardening Due to Chilling of the Iron by Sand. 

Many castings are condemned due to the iron being chilled 
by the damp sand of the mould to an extent that makes it a 
white iron or prevents it running up sharp in corners. 

This kind of hardness only appears in light castings at the 
furthest point from the gate, and may be prevented by permit- 
ting the chilled iron to flow out of the mould and, replacing it 
with hot iron. To illustrate the method of doing this, I will take 
an automobile cylinder packing ring. It has been found that these 
rings when cast separately and only turned on the outer side, 
give better results than when cut from a packing ring cylinder. 
These rings are so light that when cast four on a gate they fre- 
quently run very hard at the furthest point from the gate, with 
the softest of iron. This hardness may be prevented by casting a 
small button of iron in the center of the ring and connecting it 
with the ring at the furthest point from the gate by a small gate 
or runner ; this permits the first iron, chilled and hardened by 
the cold sand, to flow into the button and its place to be taken by 
hot fluid iron, which prevents any hardness in the ring. A but- 
ton weighing only one ounce is sufficient to prevent this hardness • 
in the ring. 

This is the button system of preventing hardness in light 
castings, and it may be applied to any light castings, and one or 
more buttons attached to the same casting. A round or any 
shaped button may be cast ; the important point to be considered 
is the placing of the button at the point where the hardness 
occurs, and to have the button of a size that will remove all the 
drilled iron from the mould. 

T© pre^-enf hardness \n corners and have the corner run up 
sharp and square, a wedge shape button may be cast upon the 



84 MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 

corner, with the sharp point of the wedge attached to the casting. 
This will permit chilled or dull iron to run out of the mould and 
the corner to be filled up with sharp fluid iron, and the wedge 
when broken ofif leaves a perfect corner on the casting. 

This system may also be applied to castings gated at the 
bottom, in which the iron is required to flow upwards around a 
green or dry sand core, to prevent hardness of the casting, and 
also small blow holes, by removing dull iron from the moulds. 
This removes the objectionable feature of a riser on the casting, 
admitting air to the mould. Dull iron may be removed from sharp 
points or corners in a cope, when a button cannot be placed, by 
punching a hole in the sand into which the dull iron can flow. 

Iron Poured Hot or Dull. 

The following questions were recently asked me by one of 
our students : "What is the difference in the castings in the first 
iron poured from a ladle when the iron is hot, and that poured 
from the same ladle when the iron has become dull during the 
pouring, so as to empty the ladle?" This matter was tested by a 
committee appointed by the American Foundrymen's Association 
casting test bars to establish a standard for the strength of 
casting. Two bars were cast from a ladle of very hot fluid ; the 
remainder of the iron was then permitted to stand in the ladle 
until it became quite dull, and two more bars were cast. The 
average strength of the first two bars cast was practically the 
same as the average of the last two cast, and there were no per- 
ceptible differences in the fracture indication or the machining 
qualities of the iron. The only change that is likely to occur in 
this case is in the dull iron poured castings being dirty and con- 
taining small blow holes, due to lack of heat and fluidit}^ in the 
iron. 

Chill on Castings. 

To make a small chilled roll or a few chilled castings, in 
which there is not sufficient weight to make a special charge of 
iron, melt a little scrap or close pig at the end of a heat and add 
to it in the ladle all the steel turnings the iron will melt and 
absorb. With a close iron to begin with, and a very hot iron, 
about 5 per cent, clean steel ribbon turnings can be melted in this 
way and the iron strengthened and hardened to an extent thai: 
a deep chill may be attained upon a small roll or a compara- 
tively light casting. If the iron is very soft and open the chill 
will not be deep, anc^ it is only with a close iron that a satis- 



MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 85 

factory chill may be obtained in this way. The depth of the chill 
may be regulated by the per cent, of steel added to the iron. 

Theory of Melting Scrap. 

It is generally considered that a mixture of different ores 
makes a better iron than one ore alone, and this theory is 
followed by foundrymen, who generally aim to use pig iron from 
more than one furnace, in a mixture of iron, that they may have 
blending or irons, and stronger, cleaner and better castings. This 
is one of the principal reasons for using scrap, for in so doing they 
generally get a large variety of iron in their mixtures, and for 
this reason foundrymen making castings for which a superior 
quality of iron is required, frequently are willing to pay more 
for good machinery scrap than for pig. 

This theory is so strongly adhered to by many founders that 
they will not cast an important casting, in which strength and 
wearing qualities are required, without scrap in their mixture. 
For such castings only selected scrap is used ; the scrap selected 
depends upon the quality of iron desired in the casting. For a 
soft, strong casting, clean, soft, strong machinery scrap is chosen. 
For a close or hard casting, a close or hard scrap, such as chilled 
car M^ieels, is used. This scrap theory is more commonly applied 
to heavy castings, but many jobbing foundries also apply it to 
their mixtures. This is a very old theory that has been practised 
by foundrymen for years, but the present generation of foundry- 
men do not adhere to it so strictly as the former, for it has 
been found that as good castings can be made from all pig from 
different furnaces as by the use of scrap, and in mixtures by 
analysis, a desired quality of iron may be obtained in castings 
with more certainty from all pig than with scrap, the exact 
analysis of which cannot be determined. 

Another reason given by foundrymen for using scrap is to 
cheapen their mixture. This will be considered under the head- 
ing of "Iron Lost and Gained in Melting." 



Loss and Gain of Iron in Melting 

CHAPTER VI. 

Loss of Iron in Melting. 

It is a very difficult matter to determine the per cent, 
actually lost in melting iron, owing to the carelessness of cupola 
men in weighing the iron that goes into the cupola, and in the 
practice of distributing molten iron, collecting castings, over- 
iron, recovering iron from the dump, etc. In more than a 
hundred heats, melted by the writer, in different foundries for 
various classes of work, to determine the loss in melting for 
these classes of work, the results were found to vary from a 
gain of 3 per cent, to a loss of 20 per cent, on the regular 
foundry mixture. This would no doubt be the experience of a 
majority of founders today, if they were to attempt to ascertain 
their loss in melting and trusting to the weights ot cupola men 
and others. Full 50 per cent, of these heats were manifestly 
incorrect, and it was only by correcting the system of weighing 
and collecting iron in castings and remelt, and trying again, that 
any conclusion could be reached. From these heats it was con- 
cluded that the loss in melting for different classes of work was 
about as follows : 

Pig and remelt for heavy machinery castings, 3 per cent. 

Pig and remelt scrap for light machinery and jobbing work, 
4 per cent. 

Pig and remelt for stove plate and bench work, 5 to 6 per 
cent. 

The increase in loss is due to the increase in light _ remelt 
scrap, which varied, in stove and bench foundries in which the 



L,OSS AND GAIN OF IKON IN MELTING 87 

tests were made, to from 30 to 50 per cent, of the heat. These 
tests were made from the regular foundry mixture for the class 
of work indicated. And the loss, which is almost double in stove 
and bench work foundries, is due to the heavy remelt of small 
gates and scrap. The following estimate of loss upon pig and 
old scrap, were made for the various lines of castings with the 
average mixture and remelt for such work. 

Pig and heavy machinery scrap for heavy work, 3 per cent. 

Pig and small machinery scrap for light machinery, 5 per 
cent. 

Pig and promiscuous scrap for jobbing work, 7 per cent. 

Pig and old stove plate, plain work, 9 per cent. 

These losses indicate those on an entire heat of these irons, 
and, as all these mixtures are frecjuently melted in one heat in 
jobbing foundries, show the average loss to be 6 per cent. This 
loss will vary to some extent to the amount of each grade of 
scrap in the mixture melted. It also varies with the size of heat 
melted, and in all cases is greater in light heats than in heavy 
ones, due to a larger per cent, of shot iron and cupola wdste. 
These losses were determined before the new methods of recover- 
ing all the shot and small pieces of iron were introduced. But 
as these small particles that were formerly thrown away are 
probably all burned up in melting, a test in which they are melted 
with the regular mixture will probably show about the same 
loss. 

Loss in Melting Machinery Scrap. 

The loss in rnelting machinery scrap varies with its quality. 
With a heavy clean scrap, it is not any greater than that of pig 
iron. And with light scrap, rusted and dirty, it varies according 
to the size of the scrap, and runs as high as 7 per cent. 

Loss in Melting Old Stove Plate Scrap. 

In a number of heats of all old stove plate, melted in different 
foundries to determine the loss in melting, it was found to be 
from 10 to 15 per cent., it varying with the extent to which the 
plate was rusted and the care with which it was picked over. This" 
was the actual loss in melting and does not cover the total lossr 
on this iron. This scrap, when piled in the yard and exposed to 
the weather, oxidizes very rapidly, iron being thus lost. Many 
small pieces are lost in the yard in breaking up the stoves, and' 



88 LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTiNG 

the latter frequently contain ashes and dirt, which have been 
weighed as iron. Badly burned pieces, such as grates, fire-plates, 
covers, cross-pieces, etc., are generally thrown out, all of which 
increases the loss on weight of iron purchased. Taking all these 
losses into consideration, practical foundrymen figure the loss 
on this scrap at from 12 to 20 per cent. New plate from the 
foundry is considered at 6 per cent. loss. 

Loss in Melting Plow Point Scrap. 

In a number of heats melted at Albany, N. Y., of scrap 
selected from a promiscuous pile to determine the loss on differ- 
ent scraps, it was found that plow points showed the smallest 
loss in melting of any of the small scraps. This loss, as indicated 
by a number of heats, was 4 per cent. 

Loss in Melting Shot Iron. 

The writer has made many curious tests to determine the loss 
in melting this iron. Among them was one made at the foundry 
of the Perry Stove Works, Albany, N. Y. They had a lot of 
shot iron that had become mixed with small anthracite coal and 
it was determined to burn the coal under the boilers, and in this 
way melt the iron and permit it to drop into the ash-pit, from 
which all ashes had been removed and a hole arranged in the 
center into which the iron would run and form a solid mass. A 
good hot fire was prepared under the boilers, and a thick layer 
of shot and coal spread over it. The ash pit doors were then 
tightly closed and a blast turned into the ash pit. Mica had 
previously been put into the furnace doors so that the effect of 
the heat upon the iron might be seen. When the iron upon the 
surface came near the melting point, the small shot threw off 
beautiful bright stars of all colors and shapes, presenting the 
appearance of fireworks. In these stars all the small particles of 
iron were converted into the black oxide of iron. The iron 
under the surface must have gone the same way, for none of it 
was found in the ash-pit or upon the grate bars, although fully 
300 pounds were placed in the furnace. This seems to indicate 
that in melting this iron it should be excluded from the air 
as much as possible and melted quickly to reduce loss. 

In a heat of one ton of shot put up in wooden boxes and 
melted at the same foundry the loss was 20 per cent. This shot 
was to some extent composed of vents, rods, fins, etc.. which 
had been recovered from the sand heaps and was considerably 
rusted. The iron obtained was very hard, although the shot had 
been made from very soft stove-plate iron. 



LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING §9 

In a heat melted at a stove works in Louisville, Ky., in 
which 1000 pounds of shot were charged loose on the bed and 
the regular heat for stove plate melted with it, the loss on the 
entire heat of five tons was 8 per cent. The cupola melted slower 
than usual, which was probably due to the slag and dirt from the 
shot covering the bed and clogging the cupola. 

In a heat melted at the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Phila- 
delphia, Pa., in 1874, the loss was 15 per cent., with the shot put 
up in wooden boxes, and the iron obtained was very hard. 

In a heat melted at the Fort Pitt Foundry, Pittsburgh, Pa., 
the loss was 18 per cent. The shot was smaller than that at the 
Baldwin works, and was put up in wooden boxes and melted in 
the same way ; iron very hard and unfit for anything but weights. 

Rust increases the loss on this iron, and also the hardness 
It should never be permitted to accumulate about a foundry. 

Loss in Melting Burned Iron. 

When managing a malleable iron foundry in 1873, we 
accumulated quite a lot of old annealing boxes for which there 
was no market, and it was decided to try melting them in a 
cupola and running the iron into boxes or pig for use in our 
regular mixture. Some of these boxes were cast from white 
iron, and others from grey iron. The grey iron boxes, which 
were heavier than the white iron ones, were tried first. We 
obtained from them about 40 per cent, of very hard iron, with a 
large amount of slag, which was so mixed with the iron that it 
could not be separated from it until cooled. The white iron 
boxes produced about 50 per cent, of iron, which was also 
combined with the slag; and they required more fuel to melt 
than the grey iron boxes. 

In a heat I melted at the American Stove and Hollow Ware 
Co., Philadelphia, Pa., in 1874, of annealing pots that had been 
used in annealing hollow ware, the loss was 30 per cent., with so 
large a per cent, of slag that the iron could not be run into the 
castings for which it was melted. 

These pots were 2 inches thick and had not been subjected 
to so great a heat as the malleable annealing boxes. 

In a heat, melted at Norfolk, Va., of the ends of grate bars 
that had not been in the fire and showed but little signs of having 
been heated, the fracture indicating a soft iron, the loss in melt- 
ing was 18 per cent. The iron was white, hard and brittle, but slag 
was not excessive and separated readily from the molten iron. 
These bars were cast at a locomotive works from soft iron. 



96 



LOSS AND GAlM OF IRON IN MELT'lNfi- 



In a heat melted at the foundry of Noyes & Co., Buffalo, 
N. Y., of hot-blast pipe that had been used in heating blast for 
drying purposes, the loss was 25 per cent. This pipe had not 
been heated to a very high temperature and showed but little 
indications of having been burned. 

The iron obtained from burned iron is only fit for weights, 
and probably the best way to melt the latter for this purpose is 
to mix it in small quantities with other scrap. The slag then acts 
as a flux for the cupola. 

Loss and Gain in Melting Pig and Scrap Iron. 

The following tables show the loss and gain in melting pig 
iron, and the loss in melting scrap iron. 

Gain in Melting Pig Iron. 

Gain in melting 100 tons of pig iron bought in gross tons 
of 2,240 lbs., and castings sold in net tons or pounds. 100 gross 
tons, are equal to 112 net tons, and, therefore, there is a gain 
in iron on all losses under 12 per cent. 



Iron. 


Per cent 


lost in m( 


siting. 


Iron 


lost 


Iron gained. 


Castings 


100 Tons. 




3 




3 Tons. 


9 Tons. 


109 Tons 


100 " 
100 " 
100 " 




4 
5 
6 




4 " 

5 " 

6 ' 




8 ' 
7 ' 
6 ' 




108 ' 
107 ' 
106 ' 




100 " 
100 " 




7 
8 




7 ' 

8 " 




5 ' 
4 ' 




105 ' 
104 ' 




100 " 




9 




9 " 




3 ' 




103 ' 




100 " 




10 




10 " 




2 ' 




102 ' 




100 " 




11 




11 " 




1 ' 




101 ' 




100 " 




12 




12 " 




' 




100 ' 





Loss In Melting Scrap. 
Loss in melting 100 tons of scrap iron bought in net tons 
and sold as net tons or pounds : 



Iron. 


Per cent, lost 


n melting. 


Iron 


lost. 


Castings. 


100 Tons. 


3 




3T 


ons. 


97 Tons 


100 " 


4 




'4 ' 




96 " 


100 " 


5 




5 ' 




95 " 


100 " 


6 




6 ' 




94 " 


100 " 


7 




7 ' 




93 " 


100 " 


8 




8 ' 




92 " 


100 " 


9 




9 ' 




91 " 


100 " 


10 




10 ' 




90 " 


100 " 


11 




11 ' 




89 " 


100 " 


12 




12 ' 




88 " 



LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELl'lNG ^1 

A comparison of these two tables shows that there is a gain 
of 12 tons of castings in favor of the pig iron against the scrap, 
when the percentage of loss in melting each is the same, while only 
in the melting of heavy machinery scrap the loss is the same as 
that of pig iron, it being heavier in all other grades of scrap until 
old stove plate is reached with which it may be 15 per cent. In 
this case only 85 tons of castings could be produced from 100 
tons of scrap. Pig iron should, and can be, melted in a well- 
managed cupola with a loss not to exceed 3 per cent, for heavy 
castings, where the remelt is light and the remelt scrap com- 
paratively heavy. By allowing 5 per cent, loss in melting pig and 
7 per cent, loss on light scrap there is a difference of 14 tons of 
castings in favor of pig, and a still greater difference as the scrap 
becomes smaller and poorer. These figures and tables should 
convince any founder that the price at which scrap is now being 
sold is entirely too high in comparison with the price of pig. In 
some foundry districts scrap is sold in gross tons of 2240 lbs., 
but even in these districts the price is too high to be profitable 
to the founder, for at least 2 to 3 per cent, more iron is lost in 
melting, and more labor is required to handle scrap, because one 
man can load and deliver two to three barrows or trucks full 
of pig, while another one is loading and delivering one of small 
scrap, a greater expense for labor being thus incurred. 

These matters should all be taken into consideration and 
investigated in figuring cost of castings. When this has been 
done the price of scrap will no doubt come down on a par with 
that paid in the days of rule of thumb foundry practice, when 
founders evidently knew more about the value of scrap in found- 
ing than the scientific founders of to-day. 

No more than $12 per ton is at the present time paid for 
rolled-plate steel scrap by the manufacturers of steel, and the 
ratio of difference in price should exist between that of pig and 
scrap as between that of steel and scrap steel. 

Stove Foundry Melting. 

The following tables show statements of melting per cent, 
of castings, remelt, fuel and gain in iron, which were furnished 
by four of the leading stove foundries of Albany and Troy, N. Y., 
and published in my work, the "Founding of Metals" in 1877; 
they represent the melting and output of these foundries for the 
year 1876. At that time Albany and Troy were the leading stove 
centers of this country. Stove founders have always been noted 
for better cupola practice than machinery and jobbing founders. 



92 toss aMd gain 01^ IRON IN MEL'TlNd 

These reports show more accurately and completely what may 
be done in cupola practice than any reports I have ever seen 
published : 

FIRST FOUNDRY. 

Tons. Lbs. 

Gross amount of iron melted 2,049 1,087 

Amount of pig melted 1,300 1,860 

Amount of clean castings net 1,344 919 

Percentage of cleaned casting produced to total iron 

melted 57.70 

Percentage of coal used in melting 15.55 

SECOND FOUNDRY. 

Tons. Lbs. 

Gross amount of iron melted 2,817 1,420 

Amount of pig iron melted. 1,842 1,871 

Percentage of cleaned castings produced to total iron 

melted 62.12 

Percentage of fuel used in melting 14.51 

THIRD FOUNDRY. 

Tons. Lbs. 

Gross amount of iron melted 3,328 84 

Amount of pig iron melted 2,1 18 421 

Amount of cleaned castings net 2,216 987 

Percentage of cleaned castings produced to total iron 

melted 56.35 

Percentage of coal used in melting 16.12 

The following statement was received from the largest stove 
foundry in the United States at the time it was made : 

Tons. Lbs. 

Gross amount of iron melted 6,695 1,197 

Amount of pig iron melted 4,276 1,042 

Amount of cleaned castings net 4,433 975 

Net gain of castings over gross tons of pig iron 157 

Percentage of cleaned castings produced to total iron 

melted 58.41 

Percentage of coal used in melting 15.08 

This last table shows the melting done and results obtained 
at the Perry Stove Works, Albany, N. Y., for the year 1876, 
and was prepared by Mr. John S. Perry, the great pioneer of 
modern stove and range designs and construction, and the most 
accurate figurer of foundry cost this country or any other has 
ever produced. But Mr. Perry died a poor man, while his com- 



LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 93 

petitors grew rich, which very clearly indicates that success in 
foundry practice does not all depend upon an accurate cost of 
production system. 

This report, leaving off the odd pounds or fraction of a ton, 
shows that 4.276 gross tons of iron were melted. Reducing this 
amount to net tons, the same as cleaned castings, there is a gain 
of 513 tons in pig, making a total of 4.789 tons of pig melted; 
deduct from this the weight of cleaned castings, 4,433 tons, and 
there is a loss of 356 tons of iron in melting or 7.43 per cent, 
on the pig. Take from the 4,433 tons of castings, the 4,276 
gross tons of pig, or the 356 tons lost in melting from the 513 
net tons gained in reducing 4,276 gross tons to net, and there 
is to the founder a gain in iron of 157 tons in castings in the 
melting and casting of 4.276 gross tons of pig. The total amount 
melted was 6.695 tons, or 906 tons more than the net tons of pig. 
No old scrap was melted and this amount represents the remelt, 
which was 41.59 per cent, of the total amount melted in each heat. 
The loss on total amount melted, 6,695 tons, was 356 tons, the 
same as on the pig. but shows a per cent, loss of 5.31 as against 
7.43 on the pig, or 2.12 less than the pig. 

This heavier loss on the pig was due to the remelt of 41.59 
per cent., or 906 tons, which had to be melted twice before it 
was put into castings. These figures of per cent, of loss in melting 
show the fallacy of figuring the loss in melting on a test heat 
to determine that in melting, for the pig or scrap purchased and 
paid for is the only iron on which the loss is sustained. 

These heats were all melted with anthracite coal as fuel, but 
little used for the purpose at the present time, and show the per 
cent, of this fuel required to melt iron sufficiently hot for light 
stove plate. The figures given are the per cent, of fuel consumed 
in melting 100 pounds of iron, and not pounds of iron melted 
to the pound of fuel. 

Deteruiining Actual Loss of Iron. 

It is interesting and of value to know the actual loss of iron 
in melting in a well-managed cupola. Such a knowledge serves to 
keep down the loss from excessive blast, scanty fuel, carelessness 
in recovering iron from dumps, gangways, etc. But loss in melt- 
ing by no means indicates the loss of iron that the founder is 
liable to. In soft foundry yards a great deal of iron may be lost 
by sinking into the ground in wet weather. I visited a foundry 
at Hartford, Conn., some years ago, to which an addition was 
being built over the iron yard. In digging the trench for the 



94 LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 

foundation for this addition, twenty bars of pig iron were recov- 
ered, and had the entire yard been dug over, many tons of iron 
would no doubt have been found. Many small pieces of iron 
are lost in breaking scrap in these yards, and two or three feet 
in depth of almost solid ir,on may be found in yards where scrap 
has been broken for years. Iron is buried in the foundry in sand 
and refuse. Bad castings have been buried and thrown in ponds 
or rivers by moulders to conceal poor moulding and loss of 
castings, and there are many other ways in which iron may be 
lost. The best method, therefore, of determining loss of iron 
is not to depend upon the cupola report for it, but to reduce 
gross tons of iron to net tons or pounds and compare this with 
pounds of castings sold or on hand, and visible stock of iron on 
hand, because all stock not visible is lost, whether it has gone up 
the cupola stack or lost in some of the many other ways in which 
it may disappear from view. 

Castings by Direct Process. 

In the early days of founding, castings were cast with molten 
iron taken direct from the furnace in which the ore was smelted 
and the iron made. In those days the remelting of iron for cast- 
ings was not practiced, and all castings, light and heavy, were 
cast direct from the furnace. The iron from many of the ores 
smelted was not suitable for castings, and this prevented many 
of the furnaceinen from engaging in the business, while those 
having ores that produced a suitable grade of iron for castings 
met with such difficulty and uncertainty in obtaining the grade 
of iron desired, owing to the lack of knowledge in controlling 
the furnace, that the business was not very profitable. This led 
to the invention of the cupola and to the remelting of iron found 
suitable by fracture-indication for the work to be cast, and to the 
separation of the casting industry from that of the blast furnace, 
and the establishment of foiuidry practice as a separate and dis- 
tinct branch. For many years no castings were made at blast 
furnaces except plain ones for their own use or for rolling mills 
with which they were connected. But since the improvements 
in the mixing of ores and blast-furnace practice, some furnacemen 
have again engaged in the casting business. This is now known 
as the direct casting process. Even with the improvements in 
blast-furnace practice and the aid of chemistry in mixing ores, 
the furnacemen are not always able to control the quality of iron 
or produce a grade suitable for castings the molds for which have 
been made. Before the quality of the metal can be determined 
the work is cast, and the castings have to be broken up in case 
the iron proves unsatisfactory, and the latter has to be run into 



LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 95 

pigs, sometimes for several days, before the furnace gets back into 
its normal working condition and produces a soft, even iron. 
But for certain lines of heavy castings, such as steel ingot molds, 
the direct process has proven a success, and these molds are regu- 
larly cast at furnaces. Aside from the liability of the iron to 
run too hard for the castings, is the trouble caused by kish* 
found in iron high in graphite, such as soft high-grade iron. This 
substance in appearance resembles flakes of black lead or plum- 
bago, and is the same flaky carbon material so often found 
separating the crystals of pig iron and falling out when the pig 
is broken. It frequently separates from a cast of soft foundry 
or Bessemer iron, and floats oft' in the air in such large quantities 
as to cover the floor of the casting house. It appears to separate 
to a far greater extent when the iron is caught in ladles than 
when it runs through a runner direct to the pig beds in the 
floor of the casting house. All the excess of it is thrown out of 
the iron before cooling and does not appear when the iron is 
remelted, except in rare instances. But in casting by the direct 
process kish is a great annoyance. It forms cold shots, spongy, 
porous spots in the castings, and floats upon the surface of the 
molten iron as it fills the mold, and gives to the top of the casting 
a rough, ragged appearance that often condemns the latter. Kish 
cannot be skimmed from the surface of the iron before pouring, 
and a number of gates devised to prevent it entering the casting 
and to collect it in the runner or gate have proved a failure, for 
the kish is in combination with the iron when it enters the mold 
and separates as the latter fills and the iron cools. For this 
reason it may be said that iron possessing much kish is unfit for 
pouring small or fine castmgs to be machined and finished. Kish 
seldom appears in iron with silicon at or below 1.5 per cent, and 
sulphur above 0.30 per cent., and good sound castings can be made 
with such iron by the direct process. But iron with such a low 
content of silicon is too hard for light soft castings and can only 
he used for castings an inch or more in thickness. This has been 
the experience at many of the furnaces at which the direct process 
has been tried, but some of them appear to have had less trouble 
with kish than others, and turned out satisfactory small castings. 
That castings can be made cheaper by the direct process than 
the founder can remelt the iron and produce them is undisputed, 
and quite a number of ingot-mould foundries have been com- 
pelled to look for other work, due to direct process competition. 
In some sections foundries have refused to buy pig from furnaces 

* Kish, thrown off from iron in direct casting has heen analyzed and 
found not to be black-lead or plumbago, although in appearance it resem- 
bles it very closely. 



96 LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 

making castings by the direct process, claiming they only want 
to sell the iron they can not use in the production of castings 
and in cutting of prices. But such a course would seem to be 
unnecessary as owing to the uncertainty of the quality of grade 
of iron a furnace may from day to day produce and the presence 
of kish in iron suitable for soft castings, the furnacemen are 
not likely to engage in the general casting business. 

Oxidiced Iron. 

This term is applied to iron that has been changed from its 
normal condition by the action of the elements or by heat, and 
in plain terms, as applied to foundry irons, means rusted and 
burned iron. Thin sheets of iron, such as tinned plate, from 
which the tinning has been removed, stove pipe, etc., may in a 
very short time be completly destroyed by rust if placed out of 
doors or in a damp place. Cast iron is destroyed in the same 
way, though not so rapidly as wrought iron or steel, but when 
exposed to the elements it becomes heavily coated with rust, and 
it too is in time completely destroyed, and the greater the surface 
exposed the more rapid the destruction. Rust does not affect 
cast iron beyond the depth or scale of it, and when this is removed 
the iron is found to be perfectly solid and not at all deteriorated. 
When cast iron heavily coated with rust is heated, the action of 
the latter upon it is similar to that of rusted iron scale used for 
annealing in malleable works, and extracts carbon from the iron, 
rendering it harder when melted. This hardening effect of the 
oxide can be prevented by removing the rust, which can readily 
be effected with small scrap, by placing the latter in tumbling 
barrels and tumbling it for a short time. This cannot be so readily 
done with larger scrap, and besides the iron is not hardened to so 
great an extent as is the case with small scrap, which exposes a 
greater surface, in proportion to the body of iron, to oxidation 
than heavy scrap. That the value of cast iron is decreased by rust- 
ing is well known, and pig iron that has for years lain in storage 
yards to be sold upon the warrant system is sold at a lower price 
than new iron of the same grade. The value of scrap is to a 
still greater extent deteriorated by rusting than pig iron, for a far 
greater area of surface, in proportion to the body or weight of 
iron, is exposed to the action of the elements. For this reason 
scrap should be kept upon a dry floor under cover and not be 
permitted to lie upon the ground in the foundry yard, and it 
should be melted as soon as possible after being received at the 
foundry. Small iron more especially should not be permitted to 
rust, for the latter not only diminishes the quantity of this iron, 
but also the quality, for when melted with a heavy coating of rust 



LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 97 

upon it, its charactertistics are changed to so great an extent that 
it does not mix with the same grade of iron from which it was 
cast to make a homogeneous metal. The quahty of this iron is 
not at all improved by running into pigs and remelting. 

Oxidation of Iron by Heat. 

Oxidation of iron by heat differs from that by rust in the 
Entire body of iron being deteriorated or destroyed without a 
deciease in size or an indication in the fresh fracture of the 
change that has been effected. This oxidation is caused by a 
prolonged heat, or repeated heating and cooling, as well as by 
the action of the atmosphere and products of combustion upon 
the iron, and may take place when the iron is enclosed in a fur- 
nace, as, for instance, at retorts, or heated in the open air as grate 
bars. In either case the oxidation of the iron is complete if the 
heating is sufffciently prolonged. This form of oxidation cannot 
be removed the same as rust so that a good quality of iron is still 
left, but the iron has to be melted in combination with its oxide. 
The effect of the oxide is to destroy the strength and softness of 
the iron, the latter when separated from it by melting being 
always hard and brittle. The extent to which the strength and 
softness of the iron are affected varies with the extent to which it 
has been oxidized, as does also its action when melted. A very 
badly burned iron when melted in a cupola produces a very fluid 
slag which flows from the tap hole like iron and in combination 
with the iron the oxide contained. As the slag cools the excess 
of iron it is not able to hold, the latter separates and sinks to the 
bottom, and the more slowly the slag is cooled the greater the per 
cent, of iron recovered from it will be. The greater the per cent, 
of iron the burned iron contains the more readily it will separate 
from the slag, and when not too badly burned may separate from 
it in the cupola or be skimmed from the ladle, the slag retaining 
but- a very small per cent, of iron, and the iron cannot be poured 
into castings if the oxide is in excess. That an iron has been 
oxidized by heat is not always indicated in the fresh fracture. In 
fact, the latter almost invariably indicates a fine grade of soft 
iron ; nor is the outward appearance always an evidence of oxida- 
tion by heat, and it is frequently only by the shape of the casting, 
or a knowledge of the use to which it has been put. that an iron 
oxidized by heat can be detected. Oxidized iron when remelted 
always produces a harder and weaker iron than that from which 
it was cast, and in extreme cases of oxidation a very hard, brittle 
irem that does not mix readily with others so as to make a homo- 
geneous metal Such iron should not be mixed with others for 



98^ toss AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 

soft castings, and it is only fit for an inferior grade of castings 
even when but slightly oxidized, and for weights when badly 
oxidized. 

Sash Weight Metals. 

The only properties required in sash weights are weight and 
sufficient strength to stand shipment and handling. They may 
be cast as over iron at the last of a heat or from any old scrap 
thrown into the cupola at the latter end of a heat, as is frequently 
done. But in regular sash weight foundries they are cast from 
any old metal that can be purchased at a low price, such as blast 
furnace scrap, pig that has been condemned for any other cast- 
ing, old cast-scrap, burned iron, shot iron, malleable scrap, 
wrought scrap, steel scrap, tin scrap, steel wire, sheet iron, tin 
cans, gas pipe, galvanized iron, tin roofing, horse shoes, and, in 
fact, any old metal that is of little or no use for anything else. 
These metals are mixed so as not to get a sufficient quantity of 
any one kind that is more difficult to melt than another in one 
place or charge and clog the cupola, and a little cast iron, if at 
hand, is distributed through the heat. This melts more rapidly 
than the other metals, tends to keep the cupola working more open 
and free, and also to give life to the other metals when melted. 
This metal sets very rapidly after being drawn from the cupola 
and therefore requires to be melted very hot, and handled very 
quickly to run the weights. It is the practice to use large gates 
and runners, or construct a basin and dump the metal right in 
so that the mold may be filled as quickly as possible. 

This metal may be melted in any ordinary cupola and is 
sometimes melted after the regular heat of cast iron has been 
melted without any bad effect upon the iron in this or the follow- 
ing heat. But as the metal is very hard, separate ladles should be 
used for it or the ladles newly daubed throughout for every heat 
to prevent small particles of iron from adhering to the ladle and 
hardening the soft iron. An extra amount of fuel is required to 
melt this metal hot, and the average melting is about three pounds 
of metal to one of fuel. To increase the fuel the weight of the 
charges of it should be permitted to remain the same as for cast 
iron, and the weight of the metal in each charge be decreased until 
a hot metal is secured. 

Sash weight metal of this kind is neither a cast iron, wrought 
iron or steel, but a mixture of all of them, and a product that ts. 



LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MELTING 99 

very hard and brittle and inferior to any one of the metals in the 
mixture from which it is cast. 

Temper in Cast Iron. 

The melting and casting of iron impart to the casting or iron 
wl'.en cold a certain degree of elasticity which may be called 
temper, but the drawing of this temper by heating after the cast- 
ing has become cold reduces the elasticity of the iron and renders 
it mere rigid and readily broken. This may be illustrated by the 
light oven plates of cooking stoves, ranges, etc. When new these 
plates, if w^arped or twisted, are readily sprung into place by 
the mounter, but after they have been heated to the degree 
required for baking in the oven, which is not even a dull red 
heat, become rigid and devoid of elasticity. This is the case with 
all soft cast iron, and the higher the temperature of the iron when 
cast and the more rapidly it sets in the mold up to a certain point, 
the higher the temper and greater the elasticity, as may be seen in 
the deflection of test bars. But the reverse is the case with a 
hard or chilled iron in which elasticity is increased by annealing. 
This temper exists in all soft cast iron, but is more apparent in a 
charcoal iron than in a coke iron, and in a close or fine-grained 
iron than in an open one. For many lines of castings, temper in 
iron is of no consequence whatever, but for others it is of great 
importance, and the drawing of it by heating or annealing renders 
the casting useless for the purpos for which it is designed. This 
is the case in all castings requiring a certain amount of elasticity 
or spring, such as that required in steam cylinder packing rings. 
To draw the temper from cast iron does not require a high or 
prolonged heat, as in annealing, to soften or remove shrinkage 
strain, but it may be drawn by heating in turning up a light cast- 
ing in a lathe with a high speed tool steel or a dull low speed tool. 
This has been repeatedly shown to be the case in turning up 
cylinders from which small light automobile packing rings were 
to be cut. In this case the rings cut from the end of the cylinder, 
at which the sharp tool was started, had the desired elasticity and 
spring, while those from the other end, which had become heated 
by a high speed or dull tool, possessed no spring whatever, and 
were perfectly useless as packing rings. When the temper in cast 
iron has once been drawn, it cannot be returned to it by any 
known process, except that of remelting and casting, for it is 
imparted to the iron by the formation of the crystalline structure 
when it sets and cools. The heating of it changes the formation of 



100 LOSS AND GAIN OF IKON IN MELTING 

the crystals to the extent of removing the strain upon them, that 
gives to the iron the desired temper or spring. 

Automobile Cylinder Packing Rings. 

One of the most difficult irons to produce is a satisfactory one 
for automobile cylinder packing rings, and probably more experi- 
menting has been done in the production of this iron than in that 
for any other casting made in recent years. These rings are very 
light and require a certain amount of spring that is difficult to 
procure in turned and finished cast iron. Probably every brand 
of iron in this country known to possess peculiar charactertistics 
has been tried, and irons have been imported from other countries 
for these castings with no better results than with the home 
product. Besides the various irons possessing distinct character- 
istics and mixtures of them, all the known elements in metal that 
give to iron elasticity and spring have been added to molten iron 
in the ladle in endeavors to obtain a satisfactory ring. One of the 
most expensive of these elements or metals to be tried was vana- 
dium. This metal has been added to iron to the extent of the cost 
of forty dollars per ton of iron with very satisfactory results in 
the ring obtained from this alloy, but with no more certainty of 
results than from mixtures of iron without the vanadium, for it 
has been found that only under certain undetermined conditions 
does vanadium enter into combination with cast iron to give to 
it this desired characteristic. The work done in this direction has 
therefore been largely experimental, and I am not aware that thi^ 
metal or alloy has been adopted by any of the automobile 
foundries for these rings. The metal generally used for them is a 
mixture of strong Lake Superior iron, ten to twenty per cent, steel, 
and, in some cases, ten to twenty per cent, charcoal iron. This 
mixture, which is the same as that made for the cylinders, gives, 
when containing the proper amount of silicon and carbon to insure 
its being soft, the required amount of elasticity and strength for 
the rings, provided the temper is not drawn from the casting by 
heating in turning and finishing. 



Perro=Ailoy^ 

Chapter VII 

Owing to the fact that many of the ferro-alloys have only 
been in use for a comparatively short time, the fixed standards 
have not in many cases been adopted. One company designates its 
material by showing the number of units of carbon by "X" and 
the kind of alloy by its letter symbol, thus a ferro-chrome con- 
taining 9.70 carbon, it would designate 9 x C. 

All foreign ferro-alloys are sold to the American consumers 
f. 0. b. cars American seaboard, based on present duties, United 
States custom-house weights at seaboard to govern settlement, 
and upon certificate of foreign chemist of repute to be conclusive 
as to quality. 

F err 0- Aluminum. 

Ferro-aluminum is sold containing 10 per cent, aluminum. 
Higher percentages are also used in iron and steel, No. 1 being 
guaranteed over 99 per cent, pure aluminum. No. 2 is guaranteed 
over 90 per cent aluminum, with no injurious impurities for alloy- 
ing with iron and steel. It is sold by the pound. 

This is an alloy of silicon, aluminum, manganese and iron. 
One partial analysis showed : 

Silicon 8.01 per cent. 

Aluminum 6.80 " 

Manganese 8.39 " 

Phosphorus 0.075 " 

Ferro-Chrome. 

Ferro-chrome usually runs 60 per cent, to 68 per cent, chro- 
mium. It is graded per unit of chromium and per unit of carbon, 



102 P^RRO-ALtOYS 

the price increasing with the chromium and decreasing with the 
increase in' carbon, these elements being guaranteed. If low in 
carbon, it is sometimes called "mild." 

A typical analysis only guaranteed as above is as follows : 

Mild, per cent. Ordinary, per cent. 

Chromium 64.80 66.00 

Iron 33.43 21.91 

Carbon 1.21 9.90 

Silicon 0.29 1.40 

Phosphorus 0.027 0.07 

Sulphur '. 2.02 0.22 

Manganese 0.09 0.20 

Copper 0.12 

Aluminum .,.. 

It is sold per ton, 2,240 pounds. 

Ferro-Manganese. 

Ferro-manganese contains over 40 per cent, manganese. 

Standard ferro-manganese is only guaranteed to average 80 
per cent, or over manganese. The English runs lower in phos- 
phorus than that from the continent. A typical analysis, man- 
ganese only guaranteed, is as follows : 

English. 

Manganese 80.50 per cent. 

Iron by dif 11.50 

Silicon ■. 1.65 

Phosphorus 0.23 

Carbon 6.78 

Sulphur 

It is sold per ton, 2,240 pounds. 

Ferro-Molybdenum. 

Ferro-molybdenum is sold per pound of pure molybdenum 
contained, regardless of the percentage of other material. Thus, 
if a pound of 80 per cent, ferro-molybdenum is purchased, 1^4 
pounds of the alloy will be received. A typical analysis, the units 
of molybdenum only guaranteed, is as follows : 

Molybdenum 79.15 per^cent. 

Iron •••• 17.55 '' 

Carbon • •^•^'^ 

Phosphorus 0-028 "^ 

Sulphur •••• 0.021 



FSRRO- ALLOYS 103 

Ferro-Nickcl. ■ ' 

As ordinarily used in steel this is guaranteed over 99 per 
cent, nickel and is sold by the pound. 

Ferro-nickel is also supplied with 25, 35, 50 or 75 per cent, 
of nickel as specified. The balance of analysis outside of the 
nickel and iron runs about : 

Carbon 0.85 per cent. 

Silicon 0.25 " 

Sulphur 0.015 " 

Phosphorus 0.025 " 

Ferro-Phospliorus. 

Ferro-phosphorus contains over 10 per cent, of phosphorus. 
The foreign is guaranteed 22 to 24 per cent, phosphorus. 

A typical analysis of foreign, the phosphorus alone being 
guaranteed, is as follows : 

Phosphorus 21.40 per cent. 

Iron 75.03 

Manganese 0.70 " 

Silicon • • • • 1-63 " 

Carbon 1.17 

The domestic is guaranteed : 

Phosphorus 18 to 22 per cent. 

Sulphur under 0.05 " 

Manganese under 0.50 " 

It is sold per ton, 2,240 pounds. 

- Phosphor-Manganese. 

A typical analysis is : 

Manganese 65.00 per cent. 

Phosphorus 25.00 

Iron 7.00 " 

Carbon '......... 2.00 

Silicon 1-00 

SUico-Spiegel. 

Silico-Spiegel contains manganese 17 to 22 per cent, and 
silicon 6 to 12 per cent. The standard is guaranteed as follows : 

y- .• . Manganese 18 to 20 per cent. 

Silicon, 9 to 11 per cent.. , . , average 10 



154 FERRO-AI^I^OYS 

A typical analysis, nothing but manganese and silicon guar- 
anteed, is as follows : 

Manganese , 20.32 per cent. 

Iron by dif 68.02 

Silicon 10.33 

Carbon 1.25 

Phosphorus , , 0.07 

Sulphur 

It is sold per ton, 2,240 pounds. 

FerroSilicon. 

Special High Silicon contains over 40 per cent, silicon. It 
is guaranteed 50 per cent, silicon, with an allowance of $1.75 per 
unit either way. The other elements are not guaranteed. A typical 
analysis is : 

SiHcon 49.90 per cent. 

Manganese 0.16 " 

Carbon 0.55 " 

Phosphorus 0.075 

Sulphur 0.018 " 

It is also guaranteed 75 per cent, silicon, with an allowance 
of $2.50 per unit either way. It is sold per ton, 2.240 pounds. 

Bessemer FerroSilicon. 

This runs 8 to 16 per cent, in silicon, the price usually increas- 
ing or decreasing $1 per unit. 

The "Domestic" is guaranteed silicon as specified 8 to 16 
per cent. 

Phosphorus not over 0.10 per cent. 

Sulphur not over 0.05 

The "Foreign" is not guaranteed, but phosphorus and sul- 
phur, while not guaranteed, run very low. It is sold per ton 2,240 
pounds. For lower percentages of silicon, see "High Silicon 
Irons." 

Ferro-Sodium. 

Ferro-Sodium is usually sold with 25 per cent, metallic 
sodium and free from lime or excess of carbon. 



ifE^RRO-ALLOYS 



105 



Spiegel-Eisen. 

Spieg-el, Spiege4-Eisen or Mirror Iron contains 10 to 40 per 
cent, of manganese. The standard is guaranteed : 

Per cent. 

Manganese, 18 to 22 per cent average 20 

Phosphorus 0.10 or under 

The silicon limits are sometimes specified, as it is desirable 
to know how the same will run. A typical analysis, only guaran- 
teed as above, is as follows : 

Manganese 20.50 per cent. 

Iron 73.61 

Silicon 0.76 

Carbon 5.18 

Sulphur . . . . , 0.002 

Phosphorus 0.055 

It is sold per ton, 2,240 pounds. 



Fcrro-Titanium. 

The lower titanium contents is sold guaranteed only in titan- 
ium, which is 10 to 12 per cent., and is sold by the pound of alloy. 

A typical analysis is : 

Titanium 11.21 per cent. 

Iron by dif 87.68 

Carbon • 0.67 

Silicon 0.37 

Phosphorus 0.04 

Sulphur 0.03 

If higher in titanium, it is sold per pound of pure titanium 
contained, regardless of the percentage of other material, the 
titanium above being specified. A typical analysis is as follows : 

Titanium 51.30 per cent. 

Iron 44.18 

Carbon 2.82 

Manganese 0.14 

Arsenic 1-10 

Sulphur 0.04 

Phosphorus 0.021 

Aluminum 0-41 



10^ l^ERtiO-ALtOYg 

Ferro-Tungsten. 

Ferro-Tungsten is sold per pound per unit of tungsten cori- 
tained, the price increasing with the increase in tungsten and de- 
creasing with the increase in carbon. A typical analysis,, the tung- 
sten and carbon only being guaranteed, is as follows : 

Tungsten 85.47 per cent. 61.20 per cent. 

Iron 13.90 " 33.02 " ■ 

Carbon 0.30 " 2.97 

""■ Silicon 0.13 " 0.47 

Manganese 0.09 ". 1.88 

Aluminum 0.00 " 0.31 

Phosphorus 0.019 " 0.03 

Sulphur 0.025 " 0.03 

Ferro-Vanadium. 

Ferro-Vanadium is sold per pound at price per unit of vana- 
dium contained ; that is, if alloy contains 20 per cent, vanadium 
and selling price is five cents per unit, it would cost $1 per pound 
of alloy, A typical analysis as made by one foreign company, 
vanadium alone being guaranteed, is as follows : 

Vanadium 36.0 per cent. 

Manganese 0.6 

Iron 61.0 

■ Carbon • 0.4 

Silicon 0.9 

Aluminum 0.8 

Typical Analysis of Mayari Iron. 

Silicon 0.85 per cent. 

Phosphorus 0.055 

Sulphur 0.018 " 

Manganese 0.97 

Chromium 2.61 

Nickel 1.49 " ' 

It will be noticed that alj the foregoing analyses of ferro- 
alloys show them to be very highly alloyed with the iron; in fact, 
most of them are so highly alloyed that the characteristics of both 
the iron and alloy metal are completely destroyed. Many of these 
alloy metals have no affinity for cast iron, and cannot be com- 
bined with it in a pure state; and if the alloy, is so high that it 
completely destroys the iron, then what chance is there for having 
the ferro-alloy absorbed by iron, either in a cupola or ladle. I 
cannot see that there is any, except by the use of a powerful flux, 
that will create an affinity between the iron and the ferro-alloy. 
Such a flux has. not been supplied by the manufacturers of ferro- 



i?ltRRO-ALLOV8 lO? 

alloys, and the result has been that no benefit has been derived by 
foundrymen from the use of ferro-alloys of any kind, either in 
cupola or ladle, although there are foundrymen who have such 
great faith in ferro-alloy that they think they cannot get along 
without them. A manager of one of the largest foundries in the 
country that I met two years ago, when manganese was selling at 
four to five hundred dollars per ton, and could not be had even at 
that price, stated that they had been using ferro-manganese for 
years, and thought they could not get along without it, but when 
they were unable to get it and had been compelled to run without 
it for two months, they did not find any difference in the iron, and 
the ferro-manganese had been of no benefit to them. 

I have tested many of the high ferro-alloys in both cupola 
and ladles, sprinkled them into the stream as it flowed from the 
cupola, stirred them into the molten iron, placed them in the 
bottom of ladles, etc. ; but have never been able to improve the iron 
to an extent that warranted the expense of the ferro-alloys, and 
I believe that metals and elements can only be combined with cast 
iron by certain undetermined native conditions, which place them 
in combination with the iron in its ores. This is shown in Mayari 
iron, which contains two metals that cannot be combined with 
cast iron by any known process. It will be noticed that neither of 
these metals or any of the other metalloids are sufficiently high to 
destroy the iron, which leaves the iron as the controlling metal, 
and it unites freely with other irons and imparts these alloy 
qualities to the mixture in a modified form or per cent. The same 
is the case with all low ferro-alloys. 

All foundry pig irons are, practically speaking, a low ferro- 
alloy, in which the alloy does not destroy the iron or prevent it 
mixing freely with other irons and imparting its alloy qualities 
to it as pig or scrap. As foundry pig may be obtained, containing 
a per cent of any desired metalloid, far above that required for 
any line of castings, I can see no reason why any iron founder 
should purchase or use a higher ferro-alloy than that he can 
obtain in combination with the iron in his pig. 

If the mixture is low in silicon and castings running hard, 
-place a high silicon pig in the mixture to bring the silicon up to a 
point that increases graphite carbon and gives a soft iron. If 
manganese is low in the mixture, increase manganese by placing a 
higher manganese pig in the mixture. When phosphorus is low, 
place a higher phosphoric pig in the mixture. Irt this way, any 
desired metalloid in a mixture may be increased in a more effective 
manner than by the use of a high ferro-alloy; and they may be 
decreased by placing a lower alloy pig in the mixture. 



Testing Iron^ 

Chapter VIII. ' 

Definition of Test. 

The term "test" as applied to cast iron means the subject- 
ing of the iron to such conditions as will disclose its true character 
and indicate its stability for the work to be cast from the quality 
or grade of it tested. This may be done by chemical analysis, 
the characteristics of the iron before it is cast being indicated by 
determining the per cent, of various metalloids it may contain, the 
effect of these metalloids upon it being such as to give to it certain 
characteristics that are known. Or, by physical tests, which means 
the subjecting of the iron after it has been cast to such tests as 
will disclose its physical characteristics and indicate whether it is 
suitable for the work to be cast. These characteristics are appear- 
ance of grain in fracture, shrinkage, depth of chill, hardness, 
softness, strength, change of shape while under stress, etc. 

Physical tests are made by means of test bars which, when 
subjected to various tests, indicate the characteristics of the iron 
as follows : Shrinkage test indicates the extent to which iron 
contracts in cooling from its length when hot. This test is made 
by casting a test bar of a given length and determining the extent 
it shrinks, by comparison with the pattern from which it waS 
moulded. To insure accuracy in this test some means must be 
provided to prevent the sand at the end of the bar being forced 
back by the molten iron and the test bai- from being longer than 
the pattern. This is done by a cast iron yoke, against which the 
ends of the bar are cast, an exact length of the pattern being thus 
insured. This test is of value in determining the length and size 
the pattern should be made to insure a casting of a given length or 



TESTING IRONS 109 

size, and also in determining whether castings that are to be 
assimilated, as in stove plate, will be of a proper size if cast from 
different brands of iron. 

Fracture Test. 

By fracture is meant the breaking of a piece of iron or test 
bar and judging the quality of the iron from the appearance of 
the fresh fracture, which is indicated by the size of the crystals, 
the luster, chilling tendency, etc. This test indicates the hardness 
or softness of the iron as the crystals are large or small. A large 
crystal with a dark luster is evidence of a soft iron, a small crystal 
and light luster of a harder iron, and a white crystal of a very 
hard iron. A white outer edge indicates the tendency of the iron 
to chill, and that it is too hard for very thin castings. Fracture 
also indicates to some extent the strength of iron, a sharp pointed 
crystal being evidence of a stronger iron and a dull crystal of a 
weaker iron. 

Transverse Test. 

Transverse Test is the breaking of a bar of iron under a 
known weight, and is made by supporting a test bar at each end 
and applying an increasing pressure or weight to the center of 
the bar until it breaks and recording the number of pounds 
required to break it. Cross breaking is the most common break in 
cast iron, and this test, together with deflection or bending of the 
bar before breaking, is considered the most important test of cast 
iron. 

Change of Shape. 

By change of shape under strain is meant the deflection or 
bending of a test bar before breaking. This is carefully measured, 
and indicates the extent to which the iron is likely to give or bend 
in a casting before breaking when subject to strain. 

Tensile Test. 

By this test is meant the pulling or drawing apart of a piece 
of iron or test bar. This test is considered of Httle importance for 
cast iron, it being seldom subject to this strain in actual use. It is 
a very difficult test to make accurately, owing to the difficulty in 
holding the test piece in the testing machine so as to place an even 
strain on all parts of it, and is seldom used for cast iron except 



110 TESTING IROiSfS 

in foundries where cylinders are cast for steam pump^, 
hydraulics, etc. 

Impact Test. 

Impact Test means the breaking of a piece of iron by a blow 
and recording the number and weight of blows required to break 
it, and also observing the condition of the test-piece after. each 
blow, as to whether it is battered, chipped off, cracked or broken. 
Little attention is given to this test, which can only be accurately 
made in a machine constructed for the purpose and by an expert, 
Foundrymen usually make it with an ordinary hammer or sledge 
and judge the quality of the iron by the weight of the hammer or 
sledge and the number of blows required to break it and its condi- 
tion after breaking. 

Crushing Test. 

Crushing Test means the placing of sufficient weight upon a 
short cylinder or square piece of iron to crush it. This test is of 
little value to the founder and the weight or stress required to 
make it is so great that it is not often applied. 

Direct Physical Test. 

This means the breaking of a casting, an exact duplicate of a 
cast from the same iron whose strength and other qualities it is 
desired to learn. This test is only of value when a large number 
of castings are cast from the same pattern. 

Relative Test. 

All tests are relative tests, for it is only by comparison with 
a standard test, which means the greatest amount of desired 
quality in an iron, that any conclusion can be drawn as to the 
quality of iron being tested. 

Standard Test. 

The standard test may be that designated by scientists for the 
various tests and mean the best results they were able to obtain 
under the most favorable conditions- in a testing laboratory, or 
it may be the best results the tester himself has been able to 
obtain. The latter will generally be found to be the most satis- 
factory, for there are elements such as hardness, softness, shrink- 
age, etc., which must be considered in the production of each line 
of castings that were probal)ly not kept in view by the scientist 



TESTING IRONS 111 

making the established test, his only aim being to obtain the T^est 
results from material tested. 

Standard Foundry Test. \ '■_", 

This is a test that shows the best results that have been 
obtained in all the qualities desired in the line of castings to be 
made. It may include one or more methods of testing, each of 
which has a standard such as standards of strength, softness, 
shrinkage, hardness, chill, etc., which, when combined with each 
other, in a test-bar or piece, indicate the quality of iron desired in 
work to be cast. 

Chilled Test. 

By chilled test is meant the tendency of molten iron to chill; 
when run against a cold iron and suddenly cooled. This test is 
made by moukling a piece the thickness and shape of the part of 
a casting to be chilled and forming the side or a part of the mould 
with a chill the thickness of the one to be used for chilling the 
casting and filling the mould with the quality of iron to be used for 
the chilled casting. This test-piece when broken shows the depth 
of chill, the extent to which the chilled fibers extend into the soft 
iron, resistance to shock, etc. This test is of value in making 
chilled castings, .such as car wheels, crusher- jaws, plows, plow- 
points, etc. 

Test Bars. 

Owing to the variation in strength of test bars, it is generally 
considered that one bar does not fairly represent the actual 
strength of the iron, and it is the practice to cast three or more 
bars of each size, test them and take the average breaking strength 
of the bars as indicating the actual strength of the iron cast. 
When it is only desired to learn the strength of iron cast in a 
certani part of a heat, these bars may all be cast from one ladle. 
But if it is desired to learn the strength of iron throughout the 
entire heat, they must be cast from dififerent parts of the heat 
and may be cast singly or in pairs. As these bars are made for 
comparison with each other, it is very important that they should 
be of exactly the same size, for a large bar shows a greater 
strength than a small one, even when the difference in size is so 
small that it cannot be detected by the eye. It is therefore abso- 
lutely necessary that the greatest of care should be taken in mak- 
ing patterns and in moulding. Iron patterns are the best, for they: 
are mOre stable than wooden ones, whicii are liable ■ to shrink 



112 TESTING IRONS 

when not in use, and when placed in damp sand or wet in spong- 
ing, expand to such an extent that the second bar, moulded frpm 
the pattern, may be larger than the first one. If the. bar is to be 
broken in the center it should be gated at the end, and every bar 
should be gated in the same way and have the same size gate. It is 
good practice to use a set gate. Care should be taken to not wrap 
one bar in moulding more than another, and to have the temper of 
the moulding sand the same for each bar. Special care should be 
taken to ram each bar evenly throughout its length and ram all 
bars to give the same degree of hardness to the mould. 

It is good practice to have all the bars moulded by the same 
moulder. The iron should be carefully skimmed before pouring, 
and all the bars should be cast with iron of as near the same tem- 
perature as possible. When bars are cast from different parts 
of a heat they should be moulded in separate flasks, for the pour- 
ing of one or more bars in the same flask dries out the sand and 
causes each succeeding bar to be heavier, strained, etc. 

Length of Test Bars. 

Test bars may be cast of any length that suits the fancy of 
the tester, but for transverse tests they are generally cast 12 or 
24 inches long. Twelve inches is the most common length and 
testing machines are generally constructed for this length, it being 
also best for comparison with standard tests, which are generally 
made with the twelve-inch bar. By the latter is always understood 
twelve inches between the bearings upon which the bar is placed 
for testing, and the bars are generally cast twelve and a half or 
thirteen inches long, and are sometimes sixteen inches. This is 
done to test the iron farther from the gate, but there is no 
special advantage in this, and it is just as well to cast them only 
long enough to give a proper bearing upon the testing machine. 

Care in Casting Test Bars. 

Cast iron is such a complex body that its strength and general 
characteristics may by the manner of manipulation be changed to 
such an extent as to have test bars indicate a totally different 
grade of iron from the one actually cast for testing. These 
changes are to a large extent under the control of the founder and 
moulder, and should be duly considered in making a few test bars 
that are designed to indicate the strength and quality of iron in a 
heat of many tons of castings. By cooling iron rapidly, the size 
of. the crystal and general appearance of the fresh fracture are 
entirely changed from those of a test bar of the same size cooled 



TESTING IRONS • 113 

slowly and the strength of the bar is less. Hence the importance 
of casting bar for comparative tests in sand of the same temper 
so that one bar may not be cooled more rapidly than another by 
wet sand. Bars should never be shaken out when red-hot, and 
each bar should be permitted to remain in the sand about the 
same length of time as another. It is not good practice to let the 
bars remain in the sand over night to be annealed by the hot sand 
unless the castings are permitted to remain in the mould over 
night. The temperature at which the iron is poured ^Iso greatly 
affects the strength of iron, and we may cast two bars from the 
same ladle of iron and have them show a wide difference in 
strength by pouring one with very hot iron and the other with dull 
iron. Some irons give a stronger bar when poured hot and others 
when poured dull, so that no definite temperature for pouring to 
obtain the strongest bar, that will apply to all irons, can be stated. 
But as the strength of the bars is for comparison with each 
other and to indicate strength of iron in castings, they should all 
be poured as near the same temperature as possible and as near 
that of the iron for pouring the castings as possible. The part of 
the heat from which iron for test bars is taken is another impor- 
tant matter. The first iron melted is always hardened to a greater 
or less extent by moisture in the sand bottom, by a damp spout, 
cold ladles, etc., and does not fairly represent the quality of the 
metal. From five to twenty hundredweight of iron, according 
to the size of cupola and heat, should be poured before test bars 
are cast. 

Iron is hardened by boiling in a green ladle, and chilled to an 
extent that makes the grain closer, by a cold ladle. A hot ladle 
should therefore always be used for casting test bars. 

Tensile and Other Test Pieces. 

Tensile bars or pieces are made of a size and shape to fit the 
testing machine in which they are to be drawn. They, as well 
as all other test pieces, whether for strength, chill, or drilled 
tests, should be cast with the same care, for they are designed 
to indicate the quality of iron in the castings and should be cast 
under as near the same conditions as possible. 

Strength of Cast Iron. 

The strongest part of cast iron is generally considered to be 
in the outer surface of the iron or casting, and the cutting away 
of this reduces the strength of the iron. This is due to the outer 
surface being cooled more rapidly than the center and graphite, 



114 TESTING IRONS 

carbon, sulphur, etc., segregating to the center as the iron changes 
from a molten to a solid state. But this does not apply to all irons 
or castings, for very thin castings cooled quickly throughout show 
about the same structure or size of crystal at the center as at the 
outer edge, and the removal of the outer scale reduces the 
strength only to an extent corresponding to the reduction in size 
of the iron. Then again, irons that do not contain an excess of 
the segregating elements are not weakened to the same extent 
by the cutting away of the outer surface as those that do, and 
this weakness is not apparent in a close iron to the same extent 
as in a soft, open one. The cutting away of the mere casting or 
skin ?cale has very little effect upon the strength of the iron, for 
it does not lie in the scale but in the structure of the iron be- 
neath it. This structure changes in heavy castings from the outer 
surface inwardly and, as it nears the center, the crystals become 
larger and the iron more open, and weaker. Hence the greater 
the amount of the outer surface cut away, the less the strength 
of the iron will be. Civil engineers and others who have learned 
that the greatest) strength of cast iron lies in its outer surface 
have attempted to obtain an extra-strong iron in their castings 
by having test bars made from the iron used for them. To do 
this they have required test bars four inches square, or two 
by four inches, to be furnished with the castings, and from the 
center of these bars have cut a one-inch square bar for the test, 
and required this bar to show the strength called for in the 
specifications for the castings. This test is unfair to the founder, 
for it is made from the very weakest part of the iron, and were 
he required to give the specified strength for tbe casting in this 
part of the iron, he would have to far exceed the strength of cast 
iron. 

It was this kind of trickery, not only by private firms but by 
government officials also, that induced the Foundrymen's Asso- 
ciations to take up the matter of testing and endeavor to estab- 
lish a standard test for the various grades of castings. By doing 
so it was hoped to establish a standard that will be fair to both 
parties, and not admit of a founder being required to furnish 
castings of a strength above that of cast iron. To fairly repre- 
sent the strength of iron in a casting a test bar should be cast 
of the same thickness as the casting, and tested without remov- 
ing the outer surface of the bar. 

Adding Strength to Cast Iron. 

The strength of cast iron may be increased to almost any 
desired extent by adding steel to it when melting in a cupola. In 



TESTING IRONS 115 

doing this, care must be taken to select an iron that will absorb 
the steel without being hardened by it to so great an extent as 
to make it unfit for the work to be cast. This is controlled by 
the per cent, of silicon the iron contains. A high-silicon iron 
carries a larger per cent, of steel than a low one without harden- 
ing. The casting of a few test bars for a mixture of steel and 
iron in the yard will determine the per cent, of steel to be melted 
in the mixture. When making mixtures of this kind, for strength 
specifications, care must be taken to not exceed the strength of 
cast iron. A founder who resorted to this means of bringing 
his iron up to the strength called for in a government contract, 
succeeded in obtaining a transverse strength of 4500 lbs. in a 
I X I bar, and had the casting condemned for the reason that it 
exceeded the strength of cast iron, and therefore was not cast 
iron, as called for in the specifications. 

Wrought iron also increases the strength of cast iron when 
melted with it. In making this mixture, the per cent, of wrought 
iron used, hke the per cent, of steel, is controlled by the per cent, 
of silicon the iron contains. But as the object sought for is a 
strong iron, the silicon should be as low as possible to insure a 
soft casting, and in this case, the wrought iron should not exceed 
30 per cent. This mixture, as w^ell as that with steel, should be 
melted very hot to insure an even mixture of iron, and sound 
castings. 

Cast iron may also to some extent be strengthened by adding 
wrought iron or steel drillings, and turnings to the iron in a 
ladle. But this is a very unsatisfactory process, for the heat 
absorbed from the iron in melting the turnings is so great that 
the iron becomes dull so rapidly that only a very limited amount 
can be added. If the turnings are not thoroughly absorbed into 
the iron they cause blow-holes, and the least excess of borings 
makes it difficult to get a sound casting. A better way of adding 
wrought iron or steel to iron in a ladle is to heat a bar in a 
forge" to a white heat, and place it in the iron, or stir it with it. 
It is then mixed with the iron as it melts off the bar,_ and the 
excess is removed when the bar is withdrawn. This insures a 
more even and sound casting, as the bar can be removed when 
the iron is at a proper temperature for pouring. 

Annealing increases the strength of a close, hard iron, but 
lessens that of a soft, open iron. 

A low-silicon iron generally produces a stronger casting than 
a high-silicon iron. 



116 TESTING IRONS 

By varying the proportions of different irons in a mixture, a 
stronger iron can sometimes be produced from the same iron. 
The larger the per cent, of No. 2 iron in a pig mixture, the 
stronger the castings as a rule will be. 

A good grade of scrap added to an all-pig mixture invariably 
increases the strength of castings. About 50 per cent, should 
be added for this purpose. 

Testing Machines. 

A home-made testing machine may be constructed in various 
ways at a very small cost. But such machines are only make- 
shifts at best, and require a great deal of time and labor in 
manipulating, and frequently do not accurately indicate the 
strength, hardness, softness or shrinkage of the iron ; and it is 
better to buy a standard testing machine or send bars to a testing 
laboratory to be tested. 

One of the best machines manufactured for light castings is 
that of W. J. Keep, Detroit, Mich. This machine, or rather 
system of testing, indicates very accurately the strength, deflec- 
tion, shrinkage and chilling tendency of a half-inch square test 
bar. It is very highly spoken of by founders making stove 
plate and light castings. Mr. Keep also makes a drill-testing 
machine for testing hardness for heavier work that indicates 
very accurately the hardness of iron. 

For heavy work probably the best testing machines are those 
manufactured by Riehle Bros. Testing Machine Co., Philadel- 
phia, Pa. This firm makes a line of testing machines suitable 
for all the various tests required in specifications for castings, 
and for the one-inch square transverse test. Their machine is 
probably the most convenient in use for a general test. 

Standard for Strength. 

There is practically no standard of strength for cast iron, 
for the transverse and tensile strength of cast iron varies with 
the per cent, of the various metalloids it contains, to an extent 
that in the one-inch square test bars, twelve inches between bear- 
ings the strength has been found to vary from five _ hundred 
pounds to twenty-eight hundred pounds to the square inch, and 
a corresponding variation has been found in the various grades 
of cast iron, but also in the same grade, for rarely do two test 
bars, cast from the same ladle of iron, show the same breaking 



'Jesting IRONS lit 

strength. Only by taking the average of two or more bars, can 
a standard for strength be established for any line of castings. 
The weakest irons are the high silicon irons. and some of the 
white irons, but all white irons are not weak irons. 

A close iron in a one-inch test bar is generally a strong iron, 
that runs soft and strong in heavy castings, but hard and weak 
in light castings. A soft, open iron in a one-inch bar is generally 
a weak iron, that runs too open and weak for heavy castings, 
but runs close, soft and strong in light castings. 

This shows the importance of having the size of test bar 
as near the thickness of the castings as possible, if the strength 
of the test bar is to indicate the strength of the iron in the cast- 
ing. If the deflection or bending properties of the iron in the 
casting are an important factor, the length of the test bar is also 
an important matter. 

The stove foundries have generally adopted the J. W. Keep 
test bar system, with a half-inch square bar cast in a yoke, that 
indicates shrinkage as well as strength. Many of them also use n 
test bar one-eighth-inch in thickness, one to two inches wide, and 
twelve to twenty inches long. This bar is gated at one end and is 
designed to indicate the flowing properties of the iron, the dis- 
tance it will run without showing a chilled edge, and the deflec- 
tion of the plate. 

Jobbing and machinery founders generally use a one-inch 
square or round bar of a length to give twelve inches between 
bearings. This is regarded as a standard size test bar for many 
lines of castings. Government and other specifications for cast- 
ings frequently require this bar to be cast upon the casting and 
will not accept a separately cast test bar from the same iron. 

For heavy castings, test bars are frequently required to cor- 
respond to some extent to the thickness of the casting, and vary 
from one to four inches square and one to four feet in length. 
For deflection tests, bars are cast from one to six feet long, and 
of a thickness to correspond to the thickness of casting. 

The following table will give the average strength of a good 
machinable cast iron that may be found in test bars of different 
sizes, twelve inches in length : ^ 



118 



I^ESTING IRONS 



Transverse Test Bars in Green Sand and not Machined. 



Approx. 


Actual Size. 


Breaking 

Strain. 

Lbs. 


Deflection. 
Inches. 


Cross Sections. 
Inches. 


Depth. 
Inches. 


Width. 
Inches. 


.5x .5 


.53 
.52 
.54 
.54 


.57 
.53 
.56 
.55 


.380 
.320 
.460 

.340 


.190 
.200 




.210 
.190 


1 X 1 


1.04 
1.01 


1.04 
1.03 


2.140 
2.580 


.130 




.110 


1.5x1.5 


1.52 
1.57 


1.52 
1.53 


8.060 
7.920 


.102 




.102 , 


2 x2 


2.03 
2.01 


2.04 
2.03 


16.180 
14.920 


.101 

■ .087 


2.5x2.5 


2.57 
2.51 


2.59 
2.50 


30.500 
27.680 


.103 




.101 


3 x3 


3.03 
3.03 


3.02 
3.02 


45.790 
45.660 


.099 




.102 


3.5x3.5 


3.52 
3.57 


3.54 
3.56 


68.470 
70.140 


.091 




.092 


4 x4 


4.00 
4.02 


4.06 
4.05 


over 100.000 
over 100.000 









The Shore Scleroscope. 

The Shore Scleroscope is an instrument designed to indicate 
•and register the hardness and evenness in metals whether hot or 
cold. This instrument consists of a drop weight or hammer of 
hard steel with a very sharp point, placed between two graded 
slides or guides, to be dropped from various heights upon the 
tested metal, and a dial indicates the depth to which the point 
has penetrated. The metal is moved after each drop of the 
weight and the depth to which the point penetrates indicates the 
hardness of the metal, and by moving the metal and striking it 
at different points, hard points in castings may be detected. 

Many of the automobile and other plants making specialties 
for which special tools are used in finishing, require this test to 
be made to avoid destroying their tools by running into a hard 
■spot in high speed machining. This testing instrument costs 
considerable money, and is of little value to a grey iron foundry- 
man except for special castings, and in many cases where this 



feST^ING IRONS il9 

test IS specified, foundrymen have required the contracting par- 
ties to furnish the testing instrument or to do this testing at their 
own plant. 

Full details, price, etc., of this instrument, for which the 
following claims are made, may be obtained from Shore Instru- 
ment and Manufacturing Co., Inc., 555-557 West 22d Street, 
New York City. 

What They Use the Scleroscope For. 

No. 1 — To measure the hardness of all metals generally. 

No. 2 — To measure the hardness of carbon. 

No. 3.— To show if the grain in hardened steel is fine or 
coarse. 

No. 4 — To measure the red hardness and cutting rates in 
high speed steel. 

No. 5 — To show whether or not steel is annealed enough to 
permit machining with profit. 

No. 6 — As a check on the pyrometer, in heat treatment of 
steel. 

No. 7 — To test the hardening qualities of tool steels and 
automobile steels when heat treated. 

No. 8 — To show if in case hardened parts the cementing 
heat has been high enough to crystallize and render same too 
brittle. 

No. 9 — To determine carbon content in mild steel an4 car- 
bon tool steel. 

No. 10 — To determine the tin content in bronze. 

No. 11 — To detect segregation in any alloy. 

No. 12 — In metallography, in connection with the micro- 
scope to test the correctness of visual analysis both in homo- 
geneous and segregated metals. 

No. 13 — As a guide in any foundry where metals of a uni- 
form quality are to be produced either in finished castings or 
ingots for the market. 

No. 14 — As a guide in experiments with view to the ulti- 
mate production of new alloys in any metal (ferrous or non- 
ferrous) the slightest change in hardness due to the addition or 
subtraction of any element is thus measured and recorded. 



1^0 'TEStlNGl'lRONS 

No. 15 — In rolling mills, to find the heat most suitable dur- 
ing the finish rolling passes for a particular kind of steel so that 
it will give the greatest strength for structural purposes, rails, 
etc., or the best qualities when it is a tool or automobile steel to 
be hardened. In hammering and forging likewise. 

No. 16 — What hardness an ingot must show to be relied on 
to yield a given and prescribed hardness in the wire, rod, plate 
sheet, bar or tube, particularly when more or less annealing after- 
ward cannot be resorted to or as when high hardnesses are re- 
quired. 

No. 17 — In chilled rolls, etc., just what hardness a certain 
grade of metal will develop when chilled more or less, thus allow- 
ing rectification beforehand. 

No. 18 — In cold working of metals, particularly steel, it is 
not alone enough to be able to produce dies, rolls, etc., of the 
highest quality but the stock to be worked must be tested to 
eliminate material which will show hardness high enough to ruin 
expensive tools. 

!_ : -No. 19 — In springs for typewriters, electrical mechanisms, 
etc., which are made of cold rolled steel or bronze, the requisite 
elasticity is indicated by a given hardness number. 

No. 20 — In springs of steel to be heat treated as for vehicles, 
railway cars, air brakes and machinery, a certain uniform heat 
treatment should produce a uniform temper provided the raw 
material is of the necessary uniform grade. This latter is ob- 
tained by sorting out the unsuitable grades by aid of the sclero- 
scope. 

No. 21 — In boiler making to test the malleability of the tube 
ends before expanding into the plates. Some governments have 
traced leaks and explosions due to lack of attention to the sub- 
ject, and who now regularly use the scleroscope to guard against 
this danger. 

No. 22 — In steel making, to determine carbon content in a 
few minutes before pouring the metal. 

No. 23 — To measure the strength of soft and hardened steels 
or each part used commonly in motor car work by observing cer- 
tain other conditions, and which otherwise can only be determined 
in one master test piece but not on each finished part. 

No. 74 — To test finished tools as particularly milling cut- 
ters, reamers, punches and dies, etc., when they are to be reliable. 



TESTING IRONS 121 

No. 25 — To detect deterioration in high speed steel due to 
over-soaking in the fire. 

No. 25a — To order material to specification. 

No. 26 — To test material before selecting to purchase. 

No. 27 — To test war material as armor plate, projectiles 
and gun metals. 

No. 28' — To test the hardness of rivets to avoid the danger 
of their shearing as when too soft. 

No. 29 — To demonstrate to college students the eiTects of 
the heat treatment on all metals as well as the effect of mechani- 
cal operations. 

No. 30 — In hardening chrome nickel steel it is found that 
there is a wide variation, while yet it is important that the fin- 
ished parts all be of the same prescribed hardness. This is ob- 
tained by sorting out the parts in lots showing the different de- 
grees of) hardness by aid of the scleroscope. Each lot is then 
reheated more or less as required to bring them all down to the 
same hardness. Some, thus may not have to be reheated at all, 
while others must be rehardened or carbonized to permit the 
proper hardening. 

No. 31 — In making tools of high speed steel to be used on 
tough but soft material and which must resist high torsional 
strains the best results are obtained at a fixed and prescribed 
hardness after tempering, regardless of the original hardness 
shown. Here also the tempering heat must be more or less as the 
original hardness varies to insure the said uniform specified hard- 
ness. 

No. 32 — To study the depth of hardening in steels intended 
for high pressure dies to avoid failures due to fracturing or sag- 
ging of the engraved surfaces. 

No. 33 — In tempering baths, to show what heat is required 
to produce a prescribed hardness in any metal subject to this 
treatment. 

No. 34 — As a code between the engineer and draughtsmen 
who can at last understand each other on the various hardnesses 
of the metals to be used for each part. 

No. 35 — As a code between the draughtsmen and the shop 
staff w^ho can at last understand each other perfectly as to the 
conditions of the material required for each part. 



122 TESTING IRONS 

No. 36 — To study up shop conditions with reference to the 
most suitable conditions of the tools and also the metals worked 
with them for the purpose of establishing economy standards 
and systematization of practice. This is the most common tend- 
ency and is vitally important. 

No. Z7 — As a ready guide for workmen who are profes- 
sional hardeners or persons who must frequently do work of this 
class. 

No. 38 — To inspect material to be worked up in automatic 
metal working machines as screw machines, etc., when a hard 
piece will often render these machines inoperative until read- 
justed. The usefulness and economy of these machines have thus 
been greatly extended. 

No. 39. — To measure depth of case-hardened work by testing 
the bottom of a small nick ground in an unimportant part thereof ; 
this method also shows the hardness of the core, which is vitally 
important. The hydraulic pressure scheme sometimes recom- 
mended is comparatively unreliable. 



Perfect C^3ting3 

Chapter IX 

Dirt in Castings. 

Dirt in castings may be due to a number of causes, among 
them dirt or slag in the iron, a dirty mould, poor skimming, bad 
pouring, poor moulding sand, poor cores, dull iron, bad melting, 
etc. 

Dirty iron was a very common complaint in the days of 
mill sinder. Mill sinder is a slag that is drawn from the puddling 
furnaces of rolling mills in which cast iron is puddled until all 
the carbon and other impurities are burned out of the iron, and it 
can be formed into balls for the squeezer and muck rolls. This 
slag contains a high per cent, of iron, and was smelted in blast 
furnaces to recover the iron. This mill sinder, as it is called, 
frequently produced a pig iron that run very dirty when re- 
melted for foundry work. But the rolling mills for wrought 
iron have almost disappeared and with them mill sinder, but there 
is still a limited amount of sinder from mills and various iron 
and steel plants smelted in blast furnaces. There are also mix- 
tures of of^es that do not unite to produce a clean foundry iron, 
and a furnace working hot and cold sometimes produce a dirty 
iron, so that there is still a possibility of dirty iron when remelted 
and cast. 

When dirt or blow holes are found in castings the first thing 
to be done is to look to the melting of the iron, and see that it is 
melted hot, and of an even temperature throughout a heat. A 
dull, uneven melted iron is often the cause of dirt in castings. 
The next thing to do is to look after the pouring and see that 
the iron is properly skimmed ; that the gate is kept well filled in 



124 PERFEICl' CASTINGS 

pouring; that a steady stream made to flow into the mould and 
fill its quickly. The size of the gate should be looked after. See 
that it is a proper size for the casting and correctly located. If 
these precautions do not prevent the appearance of the dirt, the 
casting should be carefully inspected to see that there is no scabs 
on it, no sharp corners or projections of the mould washed away, 
and that it is a perfect casting on the outside. If a cored cast- 
ing, the inside should also be carefully inspected to see that the 
core has not cut or washed, and it is also well to look to the core 
blackening, for a cheap core wash put on too thick to make sand 
peel, may be the cause of a dirty casting by washing before the 
iron. When there is only trouble with one or more special cast- 
ings, it is a good plan to give the pattern to another moulder and 
also change the core maker, core mixture or binder. When all 
these remedies fail the dirt must be in the' iron, and the best 
thing to do is to use Kirk's Cupola and Ladle Compound, which 
has been in use by foundrymen for the past forty-five years as 
a cleanser of iron. 

I was recently called upon to investigate the cause of dirt 
in a lot of castings. The castings were comparatively heavy 
hydraulic castings, required to be close strong iron, that would 
not sweat, and be perfectly clean and free from blow holes. I 
found that the iron was not being melted sufficiently hot for the 
castings, and the mixture of iron was too open and porous. The 
condemned castings, that were perfect on the outside, when 
broken and the inside inspected, showed that the dirt in the 
casting had come from the core. The core had evidently been 
slicked down with the trowel until it was too low in the box 
at one point, and to bring it up to a proper size sand had been 
thrown on the slick surface and slicked again with the trowel. 
It could be plainly seen that part of this sand had been washed 
away by the iron, giving an extra thickness in the casting, and 
leaving a ragged edge and offset in the cored surface of the cast- 
ing. This showed wliere the dirt had come from and the atten- 
tion of the core maker was called to it. An extra basket of 
coke on the bed for each charge and the addition of 20 per cent, 
of steel to the mixture gave a perfectly clean close iron in this 
case. From 10 to 20 per cent, steel should always be placed in 
mixtures for hydraulic steam and ice machinery castings to close 
up the iron and prevent sweating. . 

:i Sandzvich Hard Spots. 

A sandwich hard spot in a casting is a white very hard iron 
that does not extend fibers into the soft iron by which it is sur- 



PEKF'ECT CASTINGS 125 

rounded, but lays as separate and distinct between the plates of 
soft iron as a slice of ham between two slices of bread. 

This iron flows as freely as the soft iron with which it is 
melted, and large patches of it may be found in the center of 
a thin plate only one-eighth of an inch in thickness, between two 
plates of very soft iron, but not at all attached to either plate. 
In heavier castings when diffused through the iron, it forms in 
small nodules which have no connection with the soft iron. 
When a casting is broken at the point where they are imbedded, 
they frequently fall out of the soft iron. 

This kind of a hard spot was quite prevalent in the eastern 
section of this country about forty years ago, and foundrymen 
were very much annoyed with them. I first met with these spots 
at Albany, N. Y., in 1876. At that time the stove foundries of 
Albany and the east were melting as their principal iron, Lehigh 
Valley Pig of various brands, which had proven very satisfac- 
tory for a number of years. When the sandwich spots appeared 
they were attributed to other pig in the mixture and one brand 
after another was condemned as a hoodoo iron. At that time 
I made my first visit to Albany, N. Y.. selling my cupola and 
ladle compound. As the stove founders were all having trouble 
with their iron, I found them like the captain at sea in a storm, 
wilHng to run into any port to get out of the storm, and had no 
trouble in inducing them to give my compound a trial. 

Tests were first made with their regular mixture and some 
improvement made, but the hard spots were not entirely elim- 
inated. The fracture of their No. 1 pig presented the appear- 
ance of a very soft open iron, with an even crystalline structure 
that gave no indication of hard spots, but there was something 
about it which I could not explain but I did not like, and I sug- 
gested that the No. 1 in the mixture be decreased and the No. 2 
increased. This was done and gave a more even soft iron. 1 
then suggested that they eliminate the No. 1 iron entirely and 
replace it with one of the hoodoo irons. This was such a radical 
change that I was only able to induce them to make one small 
charge on the bed, which proved so satisfactory that they were 
willing to try a full heat, and only a few years ago another 
Albany foundryman told me of Colonel Young, the then fore- 
man of Rathbone, Sard & Co., coming to him and getting all 
the hoodoo iron he had. to stick me in this proposition, but the 
test proved perfectly satisfactory. Similar tests were made at 
the foundry of The Perry Stove Co. and several other foundries 
at Albany and Troy, and the hoodoo iron, which was an iron 



126 PKRFECT CASTINGS 

made at the furnace on the island at the lower end of Albany, 
was returned to its normal state. 

From these tests I received enough money to publish my first 
work on foundry practice, entitled "The Founding of Metals," 
which was printed by Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons, printing 
and binding company of Albany, N. Y., in the winter of 1876-7, 
and was given the credit by the late Thomas D. West of being 
the first practical work ever published in this country or any 
other on foundry practice. 

The sterotype plate for this work, after the publication of 
numerous editions, were destroyed by fire in New York City 
and the work has long been out of print. A curious thing about 
these tests was that the Lehigh Valley No. ^ 1 pig, which was 
supposed to be the best iron in the mixture, was really the hoodoo 
iron, and contained the sandwiched hard spots to a far greater 
extent than the No. 2 of the same furnace. This hardness, after 
these tests and a report of them to the furnacemen of the Lehigh 
Valley, were found by their chemist to be due to a New Jersey 
iron ore which had been placed in their ore mixture with a view 
or reducing the cots of their iron, and the discontinuance of its 
use completely restored this iron to its former good quality. 

I have never found these hard spots where they could be 
traced to the pig iron except in the case above stated, but have 
occasionally found them in very soft castings in which burned- 
scrap was melted in the mixture, and as they did not appear 
continuously, day after day, I attributed them to the badly burned 
iron in the mixture, and to avoid them would advise throwing 
all burned scrap out of a mixture for very soft castings, and also 
avoid melting badly rusted shot iron in soft mixtures. 

Blozv Holes in Castings. 

When blow holes, small or large, are found in castings, they 
are frequently blamed upon the iron, and in fact more often 
attributed to the iron than any other cause. This is a mistake, 
for very rarely does an iron when properly melted and poured 
hot contain blow holes when cold, and blow holes in castings 
are more frequently due to agitation of the iron at the moment 
of solidification than from gases in the iron. 

When blow hole trouble occurs the first thing to be done 
is to look to the temperature of the sand and the ramming of 
the mould. Molten iron does not lay quietly against a wet or hard 
rammed sand but boils and bubbles, and the bubbles are retained 
in the casting as blow holes. When blow holes are only found 



PERFECT CASTINGS 127 

in special, castings, or in certain parts of a casting, such as deep 
points in the drag, or high points in the cope, hard ramming will 
invariably be found to be the cause, and they are more likely 
to be found in the cope side than the drag, for the iron when it 
rises to this point, is comparatively dull and sets quickly, and 
the effect of the least boiling of the iron is retained in the cast- 
ing in the form of blow holes. 

Another cause of blow holes is the quality or characteristic 
of a moulding sand that makes it a good moulding sand for one; 
line of casting and a very poor one for another. A very fine 
grained loom sand is the best sand for light or thin castings, as 
it gives a smooth surface to the casting. This sand is so close 
that it does not admit of the gas generated from the sand by 
the molten iron escaping freely through the sand, but this has 
no bad effect upon the castings, for light castings generate very 
little gas, and the iron sets so quickly that the little generated 
has no effect upon the iron when in a molten state, and it is only 
an extreme case that there is any blowing of light castings due 
to this cause. When it does occur it may be prevented by scari- 
fying the sand under the bottom board and venting freely with 
a vent wire before rolling over, and also venting the cope freely. 

This grade of sand is not at all suitable for heavy casting 
for the conditions are different. The heavy body of iron gener- 
ates more gas and remains in a molten state longer than in light 
castings, and is more susceptible to explosions of gas at the mo- 
ment of solidification than the iron in light castings. For this line 
of castings a coarser and more open sand that admits of the esctpe 
of gas generated by the molten iron is required. 

When blow holes occur with a good sand then the temper 
of the sand, ramming and venting should be looked after. If 
blowing only occurs in the castings of one or two moulders, then 
the cause is in the moulding; if all over the foundry, then it i.- 
due to the sand or iron. 

Cores are a thing that should be carefully looked after in 
locating the cause of blow holes. A partially dried core, or one 
that has been kept in stock until it has drawn dampness is more 
liable to cause blowing than wet moulding sand, for it is generally 
almost surrounded by molten iron and the gas is more confined. 
A fine core sand containing an excess of loom, and also excessive 
use of some of the core binders may cause the blow holes. 

Skirniuing Iron. 

Many castings are lost due to dirt and dross separating from 
the molten iron, and also from ladle-daubing collecting upon the 



12S PE^RFElCr CASTINGS 

surface of the iron in ladles and being carried into the mould 
with the stream of iron in pouring. This may be prevented to 
a large extent by thoroughly skimming the iron before pouring. 
But this does not fully prevent it, for small lumps of dirt and 
dross rise to the surface of the molten iron as long as it is in a 
sufficiently fluid state to admit of them rising to the surface. 
Even when the surface of the iron is closely watched and skim- 
mer is at hand they cannot always be prevented from being car- 
ried into the mould with the iron. To prevent this, it is the 
practice in many foundries to throw a handful of dry parting 
sand over the iron after skimming ; this forms a scum on the 
iron that catches the dirt as it rises, and holds it from flowing 
with the stream of iron. The objectionable feature of this plan 
is that the parting sand adheres to the side of the ladle as the 
iron is poured and causes dirt to rise more fteely in the next 
ladle of iron. 

Another way that is quite extensively used for preventing 
skimmings entering a mould is to cast a very thin cast iron disk 
perforated with small holes, place this in the gate or over it, and 
build up a small basin around the gate and strain the iron 
through the disk in pouring. This catches the dirt and prevents 
it entering the mould. Perforated tin plate is also being used in 
place of the disk with equally good results. There are also an 
endless number of skim gates in use, all of which are constructed 
upon the strainer principal. They are generally formed of dry 
sand cores which are placed in the gates at the parting 'near the 
casting. Some of these gates give very satisfactory results. 

A side spout on a ladle for drawing the iron from the bottom 
of a ladle when pouring has been tried many times but always 
abandoned owing to the trouble in drying and keeping in good 
pouring condition. Stationary lip skimmer of various designs 
have been used, but these, too, have generally disappeared after 
a short trial, and the only practical way of skimming iron in a 
ladle appears to be to skim the iron thoroughly before pouring 
begins, and have a man or boy stand ready with a skimmer to 
remove any skimming that mav rise to the surface during 
pouring. 

Casting Iron Around Steel. 

It is sometimes very difficult to obtain a sound casting and 
good weld when casting steel pins, rods or wire in cast iron or 
alloy metal. This is due to two causes : First, to the steel 
being cold and having drawn moisture from the moulding sand, 
repels the first contact of the molten iron with the steel, and if 



PERFECT CASTINGS 129 

the bodv of iron is light, it loses its fluidity before it can return 
to a proper contact with the steel for a good weld and sound 
casting. When a good weld is desired of steel in a small casting, 
the only pra;ctical way to obtain it is to place a flow gate upon 
the casting and flow good hot iron through the mould until a 
weld is effected. The second cause of blow holes is rust, dirt 
and moisture upon the steel. The moisture and dirt can be re- 
moved bv heating, tumbling or polishing, but rust cannot always 
be removed. For in a badly rusted piece of steel the rust pene- 
trates so deeply into small crevices of the steel which cannot 
be detected by the naked eye, that it cannot be fully removed 
even by polishing. And these small rust pits cause the iron to 
boil and leave small blow holes around the steel in the casting, 
which in light castings frequently condemns the casting. 

To prevent this dip the steel into a mixture of red lead and 
turpentine, and permit all the turpentine to evaporate before 
placing steel in the mould. This leaves a coating of red lead 
upon the steel that prevents the molten iron coming in contact 
with the rust and prevents blowing. This method has proven very 
effective in the casting of steel pins, bolts, wire netting, in brake 
shoes, etc., but should not be employed when a perfect weld of 
the steel and iron is desired. In such cases only new perfectly 
clean steel that has not been rusted should be used. No oil is 
used in the mixture, and the evaporation of the turpentine may 
be hastened by heat. 

In the casting of heavy rolls upon a steel shaft or spindle 
the steel sometimes becomes distorted to so great a degree that 
the shaft has to be cut away to a considerable extent before the 
roll can be made to run true. 

This trouble may be overcome by casting the roll hollow\ 
This is done by building up a dry core upon the shaft. For a 
short roll one core is sufficient. This is made of a length to give 
an iron bearing of two to three inches upon the shaft. For long 
rolls, a number of cores are used and placed at a distance apart 
that gives an iron bearing or column upon the shaft from one to 
two fnches. The vent from the cores is taken off through four 
small openings in the end. When cast in this way the shaft pre- 
serves its alignment and the roll sustains as heavy a load witli 
no greater deflection than when cast solid. There is a consider- 
able saving of iron and lessening of machining which offsets the 
cost of cores, and for many purposes a better roll is produced. 



130 PERFECT CASTINGS 

Notes on Close-Grained Soft Cast Iron. 

By John Jermain Porter 

At Chicago Convention of American Foundrymen's Association, 

Professor Porter offered some notes here summarized 

on the making of easily machined castings capable 

of high polish and of white surface. 

Controlling factor in grain size is no doubt the size of the 
flakes of graphite, their distribution and number. A desirable 
iron must have limited graphite, in small flakes and uniformly 
distributed. Practical means of controlling graphite, grain size 
and hardness are classified under the following heads : Chemical 
composition. Use of steel scrap, chips, etc. Selection of kind of 
iron and brands. Use of alloys. Control of rate of cooling. Cup- 
ola practice. Practice in machining. 

Silicon should be kept as low as possible without harden- 
ing iron too much. Many carry excess silicon to be safe in 
matter of hardness, and this can usually be cut down. 

Sulphur will close grain if excessive, but only at cost of 
hardness and probably other troubles. Do not consider it safe. 

Manganese supposed to have important influence in closing 
grain, but am doubtful as to efficiency. In moderate amounts it 
probably has some good efifect, but excessive quantity hardens 
and may open grain, due to formation of large crystals of man- 
ganese carbide. 

Phosphorus within usual limits, probably has little or no 
effect on grain size or hardness. 

Use of steel scrap is becoming common and is a very excel- 
lent means of closing grain and increasing strength. Ten to 25 
per cent, is generally used, and if silicon is properly regulated 
the hardness will not be materially increased. 

Addition of chips to the charge also has a strong tendency 
to close the grain, but in this case again precautions must be 
taken to avoid oxidation and cupola troubles. Difficult to under- 
stand thoroughly the action of steel and chips in closing the grain. 
In part it is due to decrease in the amount of carbon (and graph- 
ite) in casting, but in many cases analyses show close-grained 
iron to be high in carbon, due to absorption in cupola. 

Charcoal iron, if properly used, will give much closer-grained 
castings than coke iron of equal hardness. There is also con- 
siderable difference in behavior of different irons of the same 



PERFECT CASTINGS 131 

class, some brands giving better results than others. Apparently 
difference is due to variations in furnace practice and materials 
used. 

Use of either titanium or vanadium alloy seemed in experi- 
ments to give more uniform and possibly a little closer grain 
structure, but these results would probably have been more pro- 
nounced on a poorer grade of iron. 

Rapid cooling gives smaller grain size and greater hardness. 
It is common practice to use chills to form the Vees of lathe 
beds ; size of the chills being so proportioned as to close the grain 
and yet not actually chill the iron and make it difficult to machine. 
Cores are also used in some cases purely for their cooling power 
and to close the grain. 

Cast iron may be made close-grained by cooling rapidly 
through its solidifying temperature and just below, and at the 
same time soft by cooling slowly through the lower range. Cast- 
ings can be made considerably softer by allowing them to re- 
main in sand until cold and thus anneal themselves. Since slov/ 
cooling through lower range of temperature probably does not 
affect grain size, a combination of low silicon and prolonged 
cooling is useful in getting desired properties of softness and 
close grain. 

Bad cupola work is capable of nullifying the effects of 
almost all the methods suggested for reducing grain size. It may 
also produce close grain, in combination with hardness, through 
excessive oxidation. Some think that rate of blowing and blast 
pressure have a good . deal to do with grain structure of iron, 
and it is true that height of melting zone and coke bed can be an 
important factor. Higher the melting zone and longer the col- 
umn of coke through which the iron trickles, the greater the 
tendency to open grain. 

Many machinists, but not all foundrymen, know that a good 
close-grained iron can appear open-grained. A heavy roughing 
cut will pull and tear the iron crystals and for short distance 
below the surface produce a very open structure. If now the 
finishing cut is very light, or if finish follows directly on rough- 
ing cut, iron appears very open-grained, while with proper treat- 
ment it may be entirely satisfactory. 

Flasks. 

There are four kinds of flasks used in foundries. These are 
the wood flask, cast iron flask and the rolled steel and cast steel 
flask. 



132 PERI^ECT CAS'TINGS 

Each of these flasks have their desirable properties and their 
objectionable features. The wood flask is the one that has been 
most commonly used in this country, on account of its cheap- 
ness and being light and easy to handle. But as the forests disap- 
pear and the price of lumber goes higher, this flask is being 
replaced by other more durable flasks, and will probably soon 
disappear for any but special lines of castings. The objectional 
features of this flask are its tendency to warp and get out of 
shape when not properly taken care of, to spring when it gets 
old, and also to burn away very rapidly at the joints and bottom 
board when used for heavy castings. This can be prevented to 
a large extent by protecting the joints and bottom of drag with 
a light cast iron flange fastened on, but this plan, although tried 
many times, has never come to be a general practice but may 
become so owing to the advance of flask lumber. 

The cast iron flask is the one most commonly used in for- 
eign countries and to some extent in this country. The cope and 
drag of small flask of this metal are generally cast in one piece, 
and for special lines of castings the bars are casting in the cope. 
The thickness of metal is generally from one-half to three-fourths 
of an inch, which makes them clumsy and heavy to handle. 
Large ones are cast in sections and bolted together with cast or 
wooden bars bolted or nailed in through holes provided for this 
purpose. 

A very neat small flask of cast iron may be made by cast- 
ing it in sections and bolting or riveting it together at the cor- 
ners. The castings for the sides and ends, are made one-eighth 
of an inch in thickness and ribbed with small light ribs for stiff- 
ness and a light half-inch flange at the top and bottom of cope 
and drag. These flasks after being put together may have pin 
holes drilled to a gauge and by the use of loose pins be stacked 
to any height required. These flasks are used in many found- 
ries in the west, and are a very neat flask that is not much, if 
any, heavier than the rolled steel flask and lasts much longer. 

The small cast steel flask is generally cast in one piece and 
made heavy like the cast iron small flask. It is principally 
used in steel foundries for dry sand work, and is desired to 
be strong to prevent breaking in rapping the dried hard sand out 
of it. 

The rolled steel flask is one made from steel rolled for the 
purpose, with special rolls which give the desired shape and 
flanging for a flask. This steel when shaped .and riveted makes 
a very neat flask and answers the purpose very well, but is quite 



t'liRifEC'l' CASTINGS l33 

expensive to begin witii and the damp sand and foundry gases 
corrode them very rapidly, so that the Hfe of these flasks is said 
to he only about three years. 

Flask Pins. 

There has always been trouble with flask pins on wooden 
flasks becoming loose and out of place, binding when hftmg off 
and failing to enter the pin plate properly when closmg. ihis 
is due to the warping and twisting of flasks; UTtrng one end o± 
the flask and throwing it over when shaknig out ; careless piling 
of flasks, etc., and there is also frequently trouble with the pms 
of iron flasks, also steel flasks, due to carelessness m shaking out 
and handling of the heavy flasks. These troubles may be over- 
come by the use of the separate or loose pm and a pm hole plate 
on both cope and drag. 

This pin is made of steel, tempered very hard to prevent 
wear, with a bent handle on one end and pointed at the other, 
the body of the pin perfectly straight and smooth and of a diam- 
eter to suit the size of flask. These should be of different 
lengths for long or short lift, and as the pins go commori, two 
or three different lengths are generally provided to be used when 
drags or copes are stacked for a deep casting m the drag or high 
one in the cope. The pin plates are cast solid and drilled to fit. 
the pin accurately, and they may be placed on both sides of the 
drag and cope for stacking for deeper or high castings When 
the cope is put on the pins are dropped into the pm hole plates, 
and when the mould is closed they are taken out and used for 
the next flask. These pins are very convenient, safe and ac- 
curate, and greatly facilitate the shaking out of castings. 

Care of Flasks. 
The care of flasks is a more important matter than foundry- 
men seem to realize, and in many cases they are taken out of the 
foundry into the flask yard and thrown into a promiscuous pile 
without the least regard as to whether the copes and drags are 
toc^ether or not. Bottom boards are thrown out m the same way, 
and the result is that both bottom boards and flasks become 
warped and twisted, the pins do not fit, drags do not lay solid on 
the board, copes do not lay solid on the drag but rest on two 
corners, sand has to be put over the drag to get the bottom board 
solid and sand has to be placed under the corners of the cope 
to ^et it to lay solid. All this requires time and labor, and the 
casting, if a thin one, is liable to be clamped off and castings lost. 
If the' flask is clamped down into shape before ramming it is 
liable to spring back after ramming and a drop out may occur ._ 



134 PERFECT CASTINGS 

All this may be prevented by a proper piling of flasks in the 
yard when not in use. In every flask yard two studdings four 
by four inches should be laid down perfectly level upon which 
to pile small flasks and a larger timber for large flasks. These 
timbers should be laid a distance apart to suit the size flasks to 
be piled upon them, and perfectly level to prevent warping and 
twisting of the flask. This will keep the lower flask up off the 
ground and prevent rotting of wooden flasks and rapid rusting 
of iron and steel ones by admitting of a free circulation of air 
under and around them. Each cope and drag should be put 
together and the bottom board placed upon it. This not only 
keeps the flasks and boards straight but also keeps them dry 
and preserves them, as even in wet weather the top board is the 
only one that gets wet and this soon dries. 

Both large and small flasks, when not in use, may be piled 
in this way and require less yard room, as they may be piled to 
any height, and flasks last much longer when carefully piled in 
this way, and many castings that are lost, due to warping and 
springing of the flask, may be saved. No more labor is required 
to care for flasks and boards in this way, and a great deal of 
time and labor is saved in hunting for flasks and putting them 
in shape for moulding. 

Promiscuous bottom boards used for odd jobs and flasks 
may be set on end upon studding, thus prevent warping and save 
time in looking for a board of a desired size. 



Increased Output of Castings 

CHAPTER X 

Lost Motion in Moulding. 

There is probably no mechanical pursuit in which so great 
an amount of muscular power and energy is wasted as in mould- 
ing. I first noticed this when working at moulding in a foundry 
in which all the moulders worked piece work, and found that the 
man working alongside of me was putting up a larger floor of the 
same Hne of work than I was and earning more money, although 
I was a younger and stronger man than he was and workmg 
harder. After getting up all the speed I could and faihng to 
keep up with him I started in to study the problem. 

The first thing I noticed was that he only peened his drags, 
cope and bars once, while I peened mine two or three times. He 
butted the drag only once, and in some cases, only in spots, and 
one butting was sufficient for the cope, and this was all the 
peening and butting that was necessary when done m the right 
place. 

I next noticed that he used only one large shovel of sand 
where I used two or three small ones. All this extra work took 
time and muscular power, and I was jumping around like a 
hen on a hot griddle, while he was working apparently slow and 
easy and accompHshing more than I was. I at once adopted 
his methods, and after having a few copes fall out, before I 
learned to peen and ram in the right place, and picking up a few 
more points from him, I was able to put up a larger floor witn 
a great deal less labor than I had been doing before. 

Since then in visiting foundries I have noticed many times 
moulders making the same mistakes I was making, and while 



136 INCRSASED OUTPUT OF CASI'INGS 

working hard do nof obtain the results they should attain, and 
would achieve were they using more judgment in doing their 
work. 

It is the practice of many moulders to peen a flask around 
once, and then go over it again once or twice more, feeling for 
soft spots with the peen. This is entirely unnecessary for one 
well directed blow with the peen of a rammer of proper weight, 
packs the sand as effectively as two or three blows, and the same 
is the case with the butting, and in duplicate moulding, by a 
careful study of the necessary ramming, the time of ramming 
may be reduced one-half in many cases. 

The care of a rammer is also an important matter, the peen 
and butt of a new rammer should be ground and polished before 
it is put into the sand, for moulding sand adfieres freely to a 
sand coated or rusted rammer, and a blow struck with a peen 
or butt heavily coated with sand is not nearly so effective as 
with a clean, free working rammer, and for this reason a ram- 
mer should never be permitted to remain in the sand over night 
and should be cleaned, oiled and hung up. 

The care of a shovel is another very important matter in 
moulding, for when a shovel becomes rusted the loom of mould- 
ing sand adheres to it freely, and when heavily coated with sand 
a great deal more muscular power is required to force it into 
the sand heap. Only a few seconds is required to clean a shovel 
with a wooden ledge, which should be done frequently to pre- 
vent rusting, and should be carefully cleaned, oiled with a 
greased rag and hung up after each day's work. The care of 
shovels in this way makes them work more freely and greatly 
reduces the expense for shovels as they last much longer. 

In many foundries no care at all is taken of moulding 
shovels. They are left in the sand heap over night, never 
cleaned, thrown around anywhere, and a new shovel becomes an 
old one in a very short time. It should be a rule of every 
foundry, that shovels are to be cleaned frequently, oiled and 
hung up when not in use. 

The care of riddles is also an important matter to the moulder 
as well as the founder. After each riddling it should be hung 
up or placed on top of the sand heap, upside down, convenient 
for the next mould. This permits the riddle to dry after each 
riddling, keeps its clean and it riddles more freely than if clogged 
with damp sand, and less muscular power and time is required 
to riddle sand for the mould. It also retards rusting and makes 
a riddle la$t longer. The removal of scrap from the top 



INCREASED OtlTPU'r OF CASTINGS 13? 

of moulds before shaking out keeps the sand heap cleaner and 
less riddling of sand is required. All other tools should be cared 
for in like manner, and placed after each using of them, in a 
convenient place for use again, that no lost motion or time may 
be lost in reaching or hunting for them. Patterns, follow boards, 
flasks, bottom boards, etc., should also be conveniently placed 
and everything reduced to a system that time and labor may be 
saved. 

"Rules to this effect should be placed in every foundry." 

Safct\! Coiiiinandvioifs in Action. 

Some rules were posted at a plant for the promotion of 
efficiency as far as a set of rules and regulations could be ex- 
pected to go. To make them remembered after they were read, 
they were put into a form that made a hit because planned on 
quaint lines, inviting repetition by the readers and occasional 
good-natured quotation from one workman to another. Here 
they are : 

I. Thou shalt have none other thoughts than thy work. 

II. Thou shalt take no unnecessary risks, nor try to show^ 
ofT, nor play practical jokes, for by thy carelessness thou mayesr 
do injuries which will have effect unto the third and fourth 
generations to follow. 

III. Thou shalt not swear or lose thy temper when things 
do not come just right. 

IV. Remember that thou art not the only one on the job 
and that other lives are just as important as thine own. 

V. Honor thy job and thyself, that thy days may be long 
in employment. 

VI. Thou shalt not clean machinery while it is in motion. 

VII. Thou shalt not watch thy neighbor's work but attend 
to thine own. 

VIII. Thou shalt not let the sleeves of thy shirt hang loose, 
nor the flaps of thy coat be unbuttoned, as they may get caught 
in the machinery. 

IX. Thou shalt not throw matches nor greasy waste on 
the floor, nor scatter oil around the bearings, as a dirty worker 
is a clumsy worker, and a clumsy worker is a menace to himself 
and his fellow workers. 



138 INCREASKD Oin*PtrT OF CASl^lNCiS 

X. Thou shalt not interfere with the switches, nor the dy- 
namos, nor the cables, nor the engines, nor anything else that 
thou art told is dangerous. 

Elimination of Waste Motion in Bench Moulding. 

Planning the practice and then improving it, studying men 
and equipment, supplying the workman with sufficient tools, neat- 
ness in the foundry, and some remarkable records show use of 
studious oversight. 

Complete planning out in advance by the foreman of work 
is becoming more of a necessity. Cheaper and quicker methods 
of operation must meet the changing conditions tending to closer 
competition. All orders received have to be analyzed carefully 
for cheap methods of production, special apparatus and ma- 
chines being one of the important features of cheap output. The 
best foremen and superintendents are always viewing the work 
with a critical eye, constantly asking themselves if it cannot be 
done in a better way. They do not allow themselves to be ham- 
pered by the traditional ways of the past. 

We will show by an example how similar methods of inves- 
tigation may be used in working out everyday questions of im- 
provement in the foundry. To best explain the method we may 
study the ordinary molding bench and the operation of turning 
out any simple casting in small quantities. 

Waste motion and inefficient methods are common occur- 
rences in moulding, so careful study of the operations performed 
was determined upon. To get the best results, a detailed time 
and motion study was made of operations in bench moulding. 
This itemizing may seem useless to many, but it is well known 
that important facts are missed by not obtaining for analysis 
the seemingly unimportant small detail. 

Time studies were made of men under ordinary shop con- 
ditions. The results of these studies are shown in the table of 
the record of time study in column A. 

Analyzing the work done under these conditions, three 
facts were impressed upon the minds of the investigators : 

One cause for delay was due to not having tools in most 
convenient positions for handling. They were often covered 
up with unnecessary odds and ends, like unused patterns, extra 
gate-pins, old cores, etc. 

Very often the workmen did not have the necessary tools 
and quite often those he did have were not. in very good shape. 



increasb;d otttpu'i* of castings 139 

Blunt draw-spikes, inefficient rapping hammers, swabs, sand cans, 
etc., were in evidence when he was left to supply his own tools 
and keep them in shape. 

Moulders do too much unnecessary work, such as taking 
several small shovelfuls of sand to fill a cope or drag when one 
or two heaping shovels would produce same results. 

It was found best to have benches made of the wall type, 
although in majority of cases the portable bench was constructed 
with the idea of less handling of sand and moulds. The moulding 
bench was constructed with the idea of having a place for every 
necessary tool and all supplies, having each within the most con- 
venient reaching distance. Arrangement is such that tools can- 
not be anywhere but in the proper place ; and the foreman or 
moulder can see at a glance whether they are in good condition. 

With a place for everything actually needed and only those 
tools and supplies around, the common fault of the workmen 
of having benches littered up with extra tools, patterns, old 
cores, gate-pins, etc., was done away with. 

Small tools, slick, trowel, gate-cutter, etc., are kept in the 
tool tray. The box sets on its stand and is tilted at an angle 
so moulder can see each tool and get the one needed with prac- 
tically no loss of time as in searching for it on his bench. Box 
is returned to the toolroom each evening where attendant sees 
that tools are in good shape. If special tools are needed, they 
are placed in the box issued to the moulder assigned to that order. 

Under toolbox is a shelf for a core tote-board. Rammers 
and strike-off are kept directly in front, easy of access and when 
replaced they can be thrown into holders with one motion of 
arms. 

Wire basket holder for sprue and riser pins is at back 
of bench. This is a convenient position, the wire preventing 
accumulation of sand as in a tight box or shelf. 

Two brackets are for setting the cope onto when there are 
no patterns to be drawn from it. When patterns have to be 
removed from cope it is rolled over onto side. Dust-bag and 
swab-can holders are at right of workman for ease of access. 

Riddle is in rack at right side of bench. Above the sand, 
it is never in the way as in ordinary practice. Sand is shoveled 
into it easily and it can be picked up with less trouble than having 
to reach down to floor level. 



140 INCKBAS:eD OUl'PUT OF CAST-lNGti 

Authors a year ago, in what is supposed to be one of the 
largest and liest shops in the country, noticed that one spirit 
level was common property among fifteen loam moulders and an 
enormous amount of time was lost by them in looking for it. 

In bench work the shovels must not be worn too small or 
used with edges turned. Much effort is wasted with dirty shov- 
els. Toolroom attendant sees that edges are in good condition 
and keeps blades oiled When shovels are not in use. 

Draw-spikes are inspected for sharpness, and proper size>l 
gate-cutters, swabs and draw-screws are issued. Bell-top sprue- 
pins are used wherever possible because they save time of strik- 
ing off and reaming out. Special wide strike-off iron, one stroke 
finishing the operation was adopted. Straight steel bottom- 
boards are used for durability and the strike-off leaves smooth 
surface on drag and no time is lost bedding board on a soft 
layer of sand. 

One heaping shovelful of sand in riddle was usually found 
all that was necessary for drag or cope. Many small shovelfuls 
of sand to fill cope and drag for peening and butt-ramming was 
replaced by two and three large shovelfuls. Careful placing of 
bottom-boards for ease in reaching was observed. 

Instruction cards are made for the men working with differ- 
ent patterns as orders come in. These contain information as 
to flasks, special tools, special gating, how cores are to be set 
and anchored, and other details generally left to discretion of 
moulder. Cards are issued to moulder with tools and work order. 
Made up by the most experienced men, they insure quickest and 
best methods of gating, holding of cores, etc. A special place ij 
on bench for holding these cards where easily read. Value of 
written instruction is that best method of making the piece is 
planned out ahead of doing the work. These cards relieve the 
foreman of repeating verbal instructions .and avoid misunder- 
standing. The. use and writing of instruction cards impressed 
on the management the need for standardization in tools, .ma- 
terials, and methods of work. 

Table gives conditions before the work of investigation was 
started and the outcome of following the suggested improve- 
ments. 

Column A gives averages obtained in ordinary practice. 
Column B gives avel'age time of making molds similar to thoss 
of column A, but which were made on the well arranged bench 
while instructions as to striking off, filling, riddle, shoveling and 
ramming were followed. Items 19 and 21 produced largest dif- 



B 


C 


Average 


Average of 


of 


eliminted 


studies 


time 


Minutes 


Minutes 



INCKEASED OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 141 



A 
Average 
Successive Operations in Making Mould of 

studies 
A'linutes 

1 Placing flask on bench. Setting^ 

patterns T 0.18 0.18 0.00 

2 Placing riddle ; fill, cover pat- 

terns 0.16 

3 Tuck around patterns 0.07 

4 Fill drag 0.15 

5 Peen-ram 0.11 

6 Butt-ram 0.07 

7 Strike-off 0.16 

8 Place board on drag. Bed 

board 0.09 

9 Roll drag over ; remove board 0.09 

10 Set patterns 0.23 

11 Set gate; cover with riddled 

sand • 0.33 

12 Truck around patterns 0.11 

13 Fill cope 0.23 

14 Peen-ram » 0.18 

15 Butt-ram 0.06 

16 Strike-off 0.16 

17 Remove sprue-pin 0.07 

18 Lift cope ; roll cope P.30 

19 Clean gate ; remove patterns 

cope ; repair cope 0.80 0.30 0.50 

20 Rap and draw patterns from 

drag ,0.47 

21 Vent for cores ; patch 0.40 

22 Set Cores 0.17 

23 Dust drag and cope 0.12 

24 Close cope 0.31 

25 Remove flask 0.15 

26 Set flask on floor 0.16 



0.13 


0.03 


0.07 


0.00 


0.11 


0.04 


0.09 


0.02 


0.06 


0.01 


0.06 


0.10 


0.05 


0.04 


0.09 


0.00 


0.17 


0.06 


0.22 


0.11 


0.11 


0.00 


0.17 


0.07 


0.12 


0.06 


0.06 


0.00 


0.06 


0.10 


0.07 


0.00 


0.30 


0.00 



5.34 



0.40 


0.07 


0.20 


0.20 


0.15 


0.02 


0.10 


0.02 


0.25 


0.06 


0.15 


0.00 


0.16 


0.00 


3.83 


1.51 



Comparative Record of a Time Study in the Foundry. 



142 INCREASED OUTPUT OE CASTINGS 

ference because molders will use patterns that tear mold slightly 
in drawing. Time of patching seems so small that they do not 
think it necessary to have pattern repaired. Savings in time of 
items 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 15 due to changing of benches 
which facilitated the handling of tools and supplies and the use of 
wide strike-off, bell-top sprue-pinls, steel bottom-boards, etc. 
Other minor time differences due to good tools, proper handling 
of shovels, riddle, rammers, etc. 

These small savings when totaled up for each man for a 
year's work amount to an astonishingly large amount. One min- 
ute less a mold, if molder puts up eighty molds daily, means that 
each day an hour and twenty minutes will be gained for pro- 
ductive labor per man. 

This study, further suggest R. E. Kennedy and J. C. Pendle- 
ton, of Urbana, III, authors of above paper at Chicago convention 
of American Foundrymen's Association, is only one of the many 
possible in every foundry ; floor molding, coreroom work, cupola 
tending, and all other branches of foundry practice can be analyzed 
to reduce time and costs. 

Foundries In a Rut. 

Foundries are said to get into a rut. This is a very old ex- 
pression, commonly applied by teamsters to a bad place in a road, 
into which their wagon gets stuck, afid their team is unable to pull 
it out. This term as applied to a foundry, means that the foundry 
is unable to produce satisfactory castings, and the management is 
unable to locate the trouble and pull it out of the rut into which 
it has fallen. 

This condition is more commonly found in large foundries 
than in smaller ones, and is generally, or I might say, always due 
to incompetent men in some departments, or neglect to do some- 
thing that they should have done, or were not permitted to do, by 
an incompetent manager. To illustrate this, I will cite the follow- 
ing cases : — 

I was called to investigate rut trouble at a large foundry and 
learned that they were casting a line of heavy and light machined 
castings for their own consumption. A large per cent of the cast- 
ings, both large and small, were being scrapped, and many of 
those accepted were not up to a desired standard for their high 
grade machinery. 

In looking over their castings, patterns, flasks, moulding 
sands, mouldings, melting, etc., for a few days, I found that many 



increased' OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 143 

of their castings were lost due to crushing and patching the 
moulds, fall outs, hard ramming, etc. 

Many of the patterns were old and knocked to pieces by 
rapping, and patching of the mould was necessary. Many ol 
the flasks were too light for the heavy castings moulded in them, 
and swelling of castings due to this cause occurred. Their iron 
was being poorly melted, coming down hot in one part of the 
heat and dull in another, etc. These were matters that could not 
be changed in a few days by an expert, and I reported what I had 
learned to the management, and suggested that they employ a 
foreman who was familiar with the requirements for their line 
of castings, and capable of putting their plant in shape to turn 
out good castings. 

This advice was followed, and the man advertised for. One 
applied who after looking things over a little, stated he could 
get things in good shape in a short time, and be turning out good 
castings in a month. Two months went by and no improvement, 
and he was let go. 

Another man applied, who stated he could make the necessary 
changes in their plant in three months and give them good cast- 
ings. At the end of three months, castings were coming worse 
than ever and his services were dispensed with. 

The next applicant was employed for a week, to look over 
the plant and report what changes were necessary, how long it 
would take to make them, etc. He reported the necessary 
changes, and stated the plant could be gotten in fairly good shape 
in a year. But a longer time than that would be required to get_ 
everything perfect. 

He was put to work and things at once began to improve. 
At the end of his year, he being of a roving disposition, was ready 
to go, but his work had been so satisfactory that the foundry was 
out of the rut and the firm was so well pleased with results, that 
they raised his salary, and induced him to stay another year, and 
they have induced him to stay from year to year, increasing his 
salary from time to time, until now he has been in their employ 
for twenty-five years, and is the highest salaried foundry foreman 
in the country at the present time. Their new foundry, designed 
by him, is one of the largest and best equipped foundries for 
heavy and light machined castings in this country. 

This was a management that understood its business, and 
went at things in the right way. They first learned what their 
trouble was, and then went after a man competent to get them 



144 INCREASED OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 

out of it, and when they found the man, were wilUng to pay him 
what his services were worth to them and made a success of 
their business, which no doubt would have proven a failure had 
they continued to run their foundry in the rut into which it had 
fallen. 

At another foundry which was a large stove and heater plant, 
to which I was called, I found them losing as high as sixty per 
cent of their steam boiler castings, and also a large per cent of 
other heater castings. This heavy loss had been going on for 
some time, and the stove department had been made to pay the 
running expenses of the heater department. 

The company had changed foremen a number of times, 
moulders had been changed, various grades of sand had been 
tried, and everything that was suggested tried, but the heavy loss 
of castings still continued and it looked to them like a complete 
hoodoo. 

After learning the various remedies they had applied to 
reduce their heavy loss, I looked over their patterns, follow 
boards, flasks, and castings, and found the patterns in bad con- 
dition, and in need of waxing; follow boards worn and warped, 
to an extent that the patterns did not lie solid upon them, and 
they did not leave a good parting; and many of the flasks were 
old and shaky. An inspection of the scrap casting showed that 
many of them had been lost, due to fall outs, crushing of the 
mould, an extra thickness of castings, due to patching up of 
moulds, blow holes, scabbing, etc. 

I next watched the moulders at their work, and found that 
patterns did not lie solid in the sand of the drag when rolled 
over, and were being rapped down, and sand peened or tucked 
around them to get them solid. In this they did not always suc- 
ceed, and bad lifts were common and copes had to be returned to 
the drag, from one to three times and rammed over the sand 
that did not lift, before a clean lift could be effected. Sand was 
being worked too wet to secure a good lift, moulders were vexed 
and excited over their failure to turn out good castings, and were 
resorting to all kinds of absurd things in moulding, to get better 
results. 

The heavy loss of casting^s to my mind was clearly due to bad 
moulding, and the bad moulding was due to a poor, rig for the 
work to be cast. 

I reported this to the management and suggested that the 
patterns be put in good conditions. A new set of follow boards 
be provided and the old worn-out and shaky flasks be replaced 



INCREASED OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 145 

with new ones, and longer pins be placed upon some of them to 
insure straight lifting. 

These suggestions were followed out and in a very short time 
the heavy loss of sixty per cent was reduced to the normal loss 
of about five per cent. 

Another foundry that I investigated, making a special line 
of medium heavy castings for their own finishing, to be machined 
all over, and required to be perfectly clean and as high as sixty 
per cent of these castings were being scrapped, after partial or 
about complete machining, before their defects were found, and 
forty per cent was considered a normal loss. 

This was a large plant, employing about fifty moulders, only 
a small per cent of whom were moulding the castings referred to. 
The others were employed in moulding plains, toys, and other 
very light castings. 

I was informed that they only had two cars of coke, one 
of which was good coke and the other very poor coke. This 
coke had to be mixed in melting, for coke was scarce, and they 
could get no other. The same mixture of iron was being poured 
into the heavy castings as into the very light castings, and there 
was no iron in stock or steel scrap at hand from which a suitable 
mixture for these castings could be made'. 

I remained at this plant for ihree heats, the first of which run 
short about five hundred pounds of iron. A second heat a ton 
of over iron to pig out, and the third run short. 

A sufficient weight of steel scrap had been collected for a 
special mixture, but this the manager would not permit to hi 
melted on the bed, for the light castings had to be poured first, 
and with the foreman's method of figuring up his heat, it could 
not be melted at the end of the heat, for there was no certainty 
as to the end of a heat, and it was just as liable to be poured into 
the light castings for which it was too hard, or into the pig bed, 
as into the castings for which it was melted. 

After three days spent at this plant, and having accomplished 
nothing, I gave it up as a bad job, and later on learned that two 
other foundry experts, Vv^ho had been there before me, had failed 
to effect any improvement and given it up as I had done. 

A few months after my visit to this plant, a first class up-to- 
date foundry foreman, who I could recommend, wrote me that 
he desired to make a change, and he incjuired if I knew of any 
vacancies. I wrote tlifs firm in reference to him, and received 
a reply which was, in part, as follows : 



146 INCREASED OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 

"While we agree that it is quite possible for one to get into 
a foundry rut, we do not beheve that that could be the cause of the 
trouble which we have had, which, however, has been pretty 
nearly eliminated as we have not adhered to any particular old 
methods. On the contrary, we have been continually trying out 
various methods and devices for ten years. At the present time 
we would not be interested in the suggestion that you have a 
man whom you could recommend." 

Ten years, it appears to me, was quite a long time in which 
to learn to produce castings free from dirt, and that they had not 
succeeded in doing so with two years more added to this length 
of time, was apparent from a car load of these castings that I 
was shown last year by a foundryman whojiad purchased them 
from this firm as scrap. 

The heavy loss in moulding, core making, cleaning, pickling, 
and machining these castings before these defects were found 
was sufficient to bankrupt most any foundry company in ten 
years. But in this case, the loss was made up from profits on 
other lines of castings and the plant kept running. To make one 
line of castings pay for the loss of another line of castings is the 
poorest kind of foundry practice. 

The heavy loss of these castings was clearly a case of mis- 
management on the part of the management, in retaining in their 
employ for years a superintendent who could not produce satis- 
factory castings, or suggest .a method to reduce their heavy loss 
to the foundry and also to the machine shop. 

The foundry foreman, who had been employed for years, 
had resigned about a year before my visit to the plant, and his 
assistant, a moulder who had been taken from the floor and made 
assistant foreman, was put in his place. 

To promote an assistant foreman familiar with the patterns 
and conditions is good policy, when things are going along 
smoothly, but to promote an assistant foreman when such a 
large per cent of castings had been lost every heat, for years, was 
the greatest mistake a superintendent could have made for saving 
the castings. For the assistant knew nothing more than the old 
foreman had taught him, and was bound to do the same things 
the foreman had been doing and meet with the same success 
and failures he had done. A foreman of broad experience, who 
could devise ways and means of saving these castings and also 
introduce new and improved methods of doing things into the 
foundry should have been employed. 



INCREASED OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 147 

These castings, which were lathe chucks, large and small, 
were out of place in this foundry, for they required an entirely 
different grade or mixture of iron than that for the light bencli 
work castings. This iron should have been melted upon the bed, 
and kept separate from the very soft iron by an extra heavy 
charge of coke to retard the melting to an extent that prevented 
the close and soft iron mixing, or a small cupola should have 
been put in to melt the chuck iron. If the weight of iron to be 
melted was not sufficient to justify either of these methods, then 
the pattern should have been sent to another foundry, for it 
would have been more profitable to buy these castings than to 
make them with the heavy loss on castings and in machining. 

The mixture for these castings should have been about as 
follows: Sihcon 1.75—2.00, Phosphorus 0.30, Manganese 0.40. 
Sulphur under 0.08. This would have given a close but free 
machining casting. 

A stronger but equally free machining metal v/ith a better 
finished polish would have been about Silicon 2.00, Phosphorus 
0.30. Manganese 0.30. Sulphur under 0.08, steel scrap 10—20 
per cent. In case the metal was too hard for machining, increase 
the Silicon or decrease the steel. 

At another foundry the castings complained of were semi- 
steel projectiles. A large number of these had been cast before 
the machinery for finishing had been put in, and when machining 
was begun it' was found that from ninety to ninety-five per cent 
of them were so dirty that they were condemned by the inspector, 
and the loss for castings and machining had been so heavy, the 
company had been forced into the hands of a receiver. 

The mixture for these castings had been made under a fake 
semi-steel, high manganese formula, which called for two or 
three per cent manganese in the casting. 

This per cent of manganese, when melted with a Southern 
high silicon pig and steel scrap, caused the silicon to separate 
from the iron in the shape of dirt and dross, and in some cases, as 
a pure white silica sand which was found in patches of consider- 
able size in many castings. 

A change in the mixture to sihcon 1.50—1.75, manganese 
0.40—0.50. phosphorus, 0.20—0.30, steel scrap 25—30 per cent, 
gave a perfectly clean casting. 

A foundry making gas and oil stoves and ranges had trouble 
with their burners, and called me in to see if I could locate their 



148 INCREASED OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 

trouble. Their burners were drilled with a set of very small 
drills, run at a high speed, that drilled all the holes at one time, 
and when a hard casting was struck by the drills, they were 
liable to all be destroyed the instant they struck the hard iron. 

The softest iron was melted for these castings, and they gen- 
erally drilled freely, but every few days they would find a 
few hard ones that destroyed the drills before they knew they, 
were hard. 

The hardness was not due to the mixture of iron being hard, 
for in that case they would all have been hard, and the hardness 
must be due to some local or special cause, which they had been 
unable to locate. 

I first inspected their pig, scrap and remelt, next watched their 
charging and melting, and found everything as perfect for the 
production of a soft iron as could be. I next watched their mould- 
ing and pouring, and found that no excessive swabbing was 
being done, and there was no apparent cause for hardness in the 
temper of the sand or moulding. I then gave my attention to 
the pouring, the first thing I noticed was that in warming the 
hand ladles for light castings, with the first tap of the cupola, 
the iron boiled badly in all the newly lined ladles, and threw ofif 
a heavy smoke with a strong sulphurous odor, these ladles when 
filled for pouring, after being warmed, boiled slightly, and threw 
off a slight sulphurous odor. I followed one of these ladles with 
a new daubing to the floor, and arranged to have the castings from 
this and each subsequent ladle of iron poured from this ladle 
kept separate. 

The following day, these castings were tested under the 
drill, and the castings from the first ladle found to be too hard 
for drilling. Those from the second ladle, close but could be 
drilled, and the remainder of the castings soft and free drillers. 
The next day a similar test was made, with the same ladle and 
scull, and all the castings found to be soft. These tests convinced 
everybody interested that the hardness was due to a fresh lined 
ladle, not properly dried. 

The next thing to be done was to determine why this ladle was 
not thoroughly dried after baking and being filled with molten 
iron, and where the sulphur that had rendered the iron too hard 
for these light castings had come from. 

The next thing in order was to ins]:)ect the ladle lining mate- 
rial, this 1 found to be a clay obtained from the bottom of s, 
coal mine, and heavily impregnated with sulphur and practically 



Il^CREASED OUTPUl' OF CASTINGS 149 

a fire clay, from which the water in combination could not be 
driven off by the heat of a ladle drying oven. 

A loomed sand ladle lining material and a thorough drying 
of the ladles, was all that was necessary to stop the hardness in 
these castings. 

New moulding sand generally makes the very best daubing for 
hand ladies ; this material dries quickly and may be so thoroughly 
dried by the heat of a ladle oven that no boiling of the iron 
occurs in a newly lined ladle. In case the lining cracks in drying, 
add a little sharp sand to the moulding sand. 



Making a Foundry Plant Pay 

CHAPTER XL 

' Location. 

In establishing a foundry plant, the first thing to be consid- 
ered and decided upon, is a plot of ground at a suitable locatian. 
This plot should be on high or dry ground, so that the moulding 
floors are not so wet, in either dry or wet weather, as to admit of 
the moulding sand drawing dampness from the floor and becom- 
ing too wet for moulding; also admit of holes being dug in the 
floor for bedding in work ; or pits sunk for heavy work. 

The plot should be of a size and shape that will admit of all 
necessary buildings, sheds and yards being placed in the most 
convenient and economical positions. This is a matter that is 
frequently overlooked in starting a foundry plant. There are 
many foundries, especially in the large cities, with flask yard a 
long distance from the foundry, and the carpenter shop an 
equal distance in another direction. Pig iron, scrap iron and 
coke stored in the cellar, all requires extra labor, which greatly 
reduces the profit of the foundry. 

The location of a foundry plant is a very important matter, 
for a foundry may be a complete failure, even when it has 
abundant work and unlimited capital, due to its unfavorable 
location. A foundry, whether large or small, should be located 
on a railroad where a siding can be put in. All the raw material 
used in a foundry are heavy and the hauling of pig iron, scrap 
iron, coal, coke, sand, etc., is expensive and most, if not all of 
these materials, have to come by rail from a distance, and the 
expensive hauling of raw materials, and the finished castings 
greatly reduces the profits of a foundry. 



Making a foundry plant pay l5l 

A still more important matter to be considered in locating 
a foundry is the labor problem. Moulders, as a rule, are a 
lively bunch, that like to go out in the evening, and _ more 
especially after pay day, for a jolly time, and if the location of 
a foundry does not admit of this, they cannot be induced to stay 
and after the first or second pay day, give up their job and look 
for one in a more congenial locality. This was found to be the 
case by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, only a few years ago. 

The works of this firm had outgrown their foundry capacity 
in Philadelphia, Pa., where there was no room for foundry 
enlargement in connection with their works, and they decided 
to locate their foundry in connection with their steel axle plant, 
at Burnham, Pa. Burnham is a small manufacturing town or 
village three miles from the railroad and connected by trolley 
with Lewistown, a small, quiet rural town on the main line of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad, forty-one miles west of Harrisburg, 
and about an equal distance between Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 
and Baltimore, all large foundry centers. 

Three foundries were built at this place, each one hundred 
feet wide by three hundred feet long, and fully equipped for 
foundry. work. Advertisements were placed in the Philadelphia, 
Baltimore and Pittsburgh papers, for moulders to man them. 
All the moulders employed in their Philadelphia foundry were 
sent to this plant, and many obtained by advertising had their 
carfare and expenses paid to Burnham. But they all returned 
after one or two pay days, and the firm was never able to oper- 
ate more than one of these foundries and soon found it im- 
possible to keep this one filled with moulders. The entire plant 
had to be abandoned and three other buildings were erected at 
Eddystone, to which the equipment was removed. Eddystone 
was a very small town even smaller than Burnham, but was 
only a few miles from Philadelphia, and connected with the 
city by a railroad, and two trolley lines, and after arranging for 
work trains on the railroad they had no trouble in keeping 
these three foundries well filled with moulders. In this case 
there was no scarcity of work, or a lack of capital, and the 
failure of the plant was wholly due to the fact that moulders 
could not be induced to work in such an out of the way place; - 

There are many foundries today scattered all over the 
country, that like this one, are a failure for the reason that they 
are so located that they cannot keep moulders, and are dependent 
upon tramp moulders who seldom remain more than one pay 
day, and when work is plenty there are no moulders to be had, 



1^2 



MAKING A FOUNDRY PI,ANT PAY 



Even when moulders are induced to move their families, 
and locate at these foundries, they frequently have to be kept 
at work at a loss, when work is scarce, to prevent them getting 
employment elsewhere and moving their families away. 

A stove foundry located at Columbia, Pa., overcame this 
difficulty by employing a liberal number of apprentices and 
making their own moulders. Their plan was to only employ 
boys of good families, and graduates of the high school of the 
town. These boys were taken on a month's trial and if satis- 
factory at the end of that time, were made regular apprentice;', 
who soon developed into good moulders. By promptly dis- 
charging any moulders who acquired the drinking habit, after 
warning them three times to stop it, they have at the present 
time as good a class of moulders as can be found in any 
foundry in the state, most of whom own their own homes, and 
are interested in the welfare of the town and foundry, and by 
their example and success have made the stove foundry the 
most desirable place of employment in the town. The firm 
have no trouble in getting all the high school graduates they 
require to keep up their supply of moulders. 

Another mistake frequently made is in locating a foundry 
in a town where there are no foundries, but a number of manCi- 
facturing plants using castings, with a view of getting all the 
castings of these plants to make. The buyers of castings, like 
other biuyers of goods, frequently prefer to place their orders 
for castings where there is competition, and their large orders 
generally go to the foundry centers and the home foundry only 
gets the breakdown or hurry up castings to make. Jobbing 
foundries so located are seldom a success unless there is a large 
surrounding territory to supply or nearby towns from which 
orders can be secured. Such foundries should keep a good 
supply of pig iron, and a small pile of scrap iron in sight, for 
if the foundry once gets the reputation of using all scrap, their 
home trade is done for. 

All small jobbing foundries should have a specialty of some 
kind to make, this enables them to keep their moulders at work 
when jobbing work is scarce, and put them all on jobbing work 
when there is a rush of orders. 

Designing a Foundry Plant. 

In designing a foundry plant, the labor problem must be 
fully considered for the only producers in a foundry are the 



MAKING A FOUiSTDRY PLANT PAY 153 

moulders. If these are loaded down with overhead labor ex- 
pense, the foundry cannot possibly be a paying proposition. 

To be included in overhead labor of a foundry plant, is the 
manager and office force, superintendent, foreman, draftsman, 
pattern makers, engineer, fireman, fiask makers, coremakers, 
moulders' helpers, cupola man, teamsters, and every man that 
receives his salary or day's pay from the foundry except the 
moulder, are non-producers, to the extent that their time is 
charged to the foundry, and are dependent upon the profits 
made on the output of castings. It will, therefore, readily be 
seen that the designing of a foundry plant, to reduce the amount 
of labor required, is a very important matter. 

The plot of ground should be of a size and shape to admit 
of all necessary buildings, sheds, and yards being properly 
placed, and also for enlargement of the plant, as the business 
increases. The cupola should be placed at the nearest point to 
the pig iron and coke, that no extra labor may be required in 
the handling of the cupola stock. The tumbling barrels for the 
dump should be placed in the cupola room, and not in the casting 
cleaning rooms, where the labor of wheeling the dump to the 
barrel, and wheeling the iron back to the cupola may cost more 
than the value of the iron recovered. 

The moulding room should be arranged to give the shortest 
possible care for the molten iron from the cupola to the mould. 
The casting cleaning room should be placed at the nearest point 
to the final destination of the casting in the plant,, that there may 
be no carrying of them backwards and forwards. 

The flask yard should be located right at the foundry door, 
and the carpenter shop in the yard, to save a long carry of flasks 
out and in the foundry, and also for barring and repairing. 

Many foundries do not employ a regular carpenter, but 
have a handy man, trained to do the flask hunting, carrying, 
barring, and repairing, and when there is none of this work to 
do, employ him at other work. 

The pattern shop and pattern storage house should be fire- 
proof, and near the foundry. 

The coke and sand sheds should be placed along the railroad 
siding, that coke and sand may be shoveled directly into them 



154 MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANi^ PAY 

without extra handling, and the pig and scrap yard should also 
be placed on the siding at the nearest point to the cupola. 

Foundry Yard. 

The foundry yard should be an orderly place, because order 
makes for safety. Therefore evry argument in favor of order 
is an argument in favor of the safety of employes, and every 
activity toward orderly conditions is a move in the direction of 
safety. The orderly yard, because it is more commodious and 
accessible than the disorderly one, offers greater inducement to 
move back and forth, as needed, those parts of the foundry 
equipment which would otherwise litter and crowd the foundry 
buildings. When, therefore, the entire area of the yard is 
made conveniently available for the storage of materials ari;} 
equipment, the yard greatly relieves the otherwise congested 
condition of the foundry interior, adds to the latter's productive 
capacity and makes it easier to preserve safe and orderly work- 
ing conditions in it. This is especially recognized in foundries 
where every square foot of floor area is valuable for production 
and where order and light are essential to the greatest safety of 
the men. 

A Moulder Ozuning a Foundry. 

A great many moulders have an idea that they know all 
about moulding and the foundry business, and all they have 
to do is to build a foundry and run it to make their fortune. 
This was my idea in my younger days and I tried it out to 
my sorrow. 

I had served my apprenticeship as a stove plate moulder 
in a large stove foundry in Pittsburgh, Pa. From this plant 
I went to work at a small foundry at Sharon, Pa., with one set 
of stove patterns, one jobbing moulder and a melter, casting 
every other day. The melter ran the cupola one day and cleaned 
castings the next day. The three of us were the entire foundry 
force. After working in this foundry for several years, I se- 
cured employment in a large jobbing foundry where I was soon 
able to mould anything that came in. and rose to the position 
of foreman, which I held for several years. During the time 
I had spent in these various foundries, I had learned to manage 
a cupola and melt iron as well as a professional melter, mount 
a stove, make or bar a flask, make dry sand cores, and in fact 
do anything about a foundry. I had saved considerable money 
and concluded to have a foundry of my own, fashioned after 
the one that made stove and jobbing shop work, which had 



MAKING A FOUiSTDRY PLANT PAY 155 

proven a success. This foundry I located at Coshocton, Ohio, 
where I purchased a lot, put up a building, installed an engine, 
blower, etc., purchased a set of stove patterns, had flasks made 
for them and was ready for business. By this time my money 
was about all gone, but I managed to get a car of iron and one 
of coke, make a start and worry along for a short time. I then 
took in a partner who agreed to furnish working capital, equal 
to' 'the amount I had invested in the plant. This he failed to 
do, and after two years' endeavor to make the venture a success. 
I sold out my interest, losing about all I had invested. 

This has been about the experience of a number of moulders 
I have met, who started foundries, and who, like myself, did 
not know working capital was necessary, or failed to provide it, 
and there are a large number of such foundries in existence to- 
day, built by moulders, the owners of which would be better 
off if they were working in the foundry for a day's pay. 

A moulder who contemplates building or owning a foundry, 
should first get an estimate on cost of everything required for 
the. line of castings he proposes to make, whether a specialty 
or general line, and figure out total cost for foundry and equip- 
ment. To this cost he should add from ten to twenty-five per 
cent, for there is always something that has been forgotten or 
costs more than he estimated. To this estimate he should add 
an equal amount for working capital. With this amount of 
working capital he can only do a small hand-to-mouth business. 
If he designs to push the business to the full capacity of the 
plant, whether large or small, he should have a working capital 
equal to at least four times the cost of the plant and outfit, tor 
iron coke and a complete line of foundry supplies, must be 
carried in stock. New flasks, patterns, etc., must be provided 
frequently and money must be on hand to pay workmen on pay 
day. Castings cannot always be sold for cash, and many accounts 
have to be carried on the books for months, and some of them 
forever. 

A working capital of four times the cost of plant, will no 
doubt seem very large to many moulders who contemplate own- 
ing a foundry, but a little investigation will show them that 
many of the sash-weight foundries, which are well known to 
have the cheapest kind of an equipment, for so few patterns 
and flasks are required, have several times this amount of work- 
ing capital, for although their expense for patterns and flasks 
is very limited, they have to take advantage of the iron market ; 
to compete with other sashweight foundries ; and frequently 
buy large lots of condemned pig or scrap to get it at a low price, 



156 MAKINCi A F'OfNDRY PLAN1* PAY 

and they have to carry their weights until they get an order for 
them. One of these foundries, employing only six moulders, the 
management of which I am well acquainted with, have a working 
capital of $50,CX)0, while their plant, when stripped of its weights 
and irons, would not sell for more than five thousand. 

A moulder, who has mastered the foundry end of the busi- 
ness and desires to own a foundry, had better rent a foundry 
and learn something about the fiancial end of the business before 
attempting to build or buy one. 

MacJiine Shop and Foundry. 

Many owners of machine shops, using quite a number of 
castings which at times they find too. hard for machining, and 
at other times cannot get the castings just when wanted, have 
constructed small foundry plants in connection with their machine 
shop, to make their own castings. Another inducement in con- 
structing such a foundry is to save the profits made on castings 
by the foundry. This is a mistake, for castings made in these 
foundries generally cost more than for what they can be pur- 
chased, and in many of them, cost more than double what they 
can be bought for from another foundry, and the castings are 
not any more satisfactory. This is due to various causes. 

These foundries are generally constructed for the employ- 
ment of from two to four moulders and are frequently poorly 
designed. The cupola being poorly placed, and at a point that 
gives a long carry for the fuel, iron and removal of cupola dump. 
The cleaning room is placed at a point to which the castings 
have to be carried some distance, and then back to the machine 
shop, in place of having it adjoin the machine shop and con- 
nected with it. These arrangements require labor out of pro- 
portion to the number of moulders employed. Then again, the 
flask yard is some distance from the foundry and carpenter 
shop on second or third floor of the machine shop. Moulders 
in these small foundries are generally required to hunt their own 
flasks, take them to the carpenter shop when necessary, and 
frequently have to do the work of barring or repairing them. 
This takes up the valuable time of the moulder, and results in 
the small output of castings for his day's pay. Another cause 
for high cost of castings in these foundries is scarcity of work 
at times and the moulder killing time to make the job hold out, 
and establishing a small day's work for the plant and even when 
there is a rush of work on do not do a full day's work. 

One of the best ways to make a foundry of this kind pay is 
to have a specialty on which one or more moulders can be con- 



MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 157 

stantly employed working piece work, and one or more moulders 
working by the day, making orders or stock castings, with pat- 
terns always at hand, for stock castings when ordered castings 
are scarce, and in this way, give the moulder no excuse for kill- 
ing time on a mould and insure a fair day's work. 

With this system and casting every second day, a man to do 
the melting one day and cleaning castings the next, is all that is 
required for two moulders. A melter and one laborer, part of 
his time, is all that is required for four moulders casting every 
day, or every other day. This brings the labor down to a propei 
proportion to the moulders, and with moulders that are willmg 
to do a fair day's work, any of these foundries can make cast- 
ings as cheaply as any of the larger foundries, with heavy over- 
head charges. 

Foundry Foreman. 

The foreman of a foundry is a manager and not a workman. 
If he has only two or three moulders he may find time to do a 
little moulding, but if he has eight or ten moulders, worKmg on 
jobbing work, or other castings in which changes are frequently 
made, all his time can be more profitably employed in giving out 
the patterns to men competent to mould the piece ; seeing that 
the flask is at hand in good condition and properly barred ; seeing 
that patterns are properly gated, rammed and poured ; cores are 
properly made, vented and baked ; patterns are in proper condi- 
tion for moulding, and that they are not rapped and battered 
to pieces, by careless moulders, before a half dozen castings are 
made from them. Seeing that each moulder does a fair day's 
work for his wages. If castings are bad, to determine the cause 
and see that the next one is not lost from the same cause. 

He should see that the cupola is properly chipped out, 
daubed and lining in shape to do fast melting, and everything 
done to give fast melting and hot, even iron throughout a heat. 
When he has properly looked after all these things, he has no 
time for moulding. It may be claimed that the melter and 
moulders are competent men and do not require this attention 
and looking after. This may be the case, but men grow care- 
less and there is nothing like keeping them up to the standard 
by letting them know that the foreman understands his business 
and is noticing what they are doing and how they are doing it. 

This should not be done by continual nagging and finding 
fault, but should be done by calling the man's attention to things 
that are not right, and advising him what to do to make things 



158 MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT* PAY 

right. If he pays no attention to such advice and goes on in the 
same old way, with bad results, call his attention to it again, and 
if he does not improve, do not quarrel with him, but lay him off 
on pay night, with a polite note that his services are no longer 
required, for every man has his friends that are ready to side 
with him, no matter how much he may be at fault, and quarreling 
with a man about his work may result in an ill feeling through- 
out the shop toward a foreman. 

In these days of close competition, the success or failure ot 
a foundry plant depends, to a very large extent, upon the foundry 
superintendent or foreman, for upon him rests the responsibility 
of getting out the castings of a desired quality at the least pos- 
sible cost for materials, supplies and labor. To do this there 
must be a complete planning out of the Work in advance of doing 
it. All orders received have to be analyzed carefully, for a cheap 
method of production. He must not allow himself to be hamp- 
ered by the traditional ways of the past and consider those 
methods the only way in which the work can be done. 

When an order for castings is received the first thing he 
does is to learn the number of castings to be made from each 
pattern. He then looks the patterns over to see what cores are 
required; how many patterns can be placed in a flask; how they 
are to be gated, etc., and sees that the pattern is in good condi- 
tion for moulding before giving it to the moulder, that there may 
be no time lost in patching up the mould. 

In case there is only a very limited number of pieces to be 
cast from each pattern, the question of flasks must be considered. 
Is there a flask in the foundry or yard in which the piece may 
be moulded and cast? If not, can it be bedded in the floor and 
coped or can any flask in stock be changed at a small cost and 
made to answer the purpose and the cost of a new flask saved? 

If there are a large number of pieces to be cast from the 
same pattern, then the question is what kind of a rig can be 
devised to turn them out quickly, and the least possible cost for 
rig and moulding must be considered. First, the number of 
patterns that can be moulded in a flask ; size of flask that may 
be used to best advantage ; set gates to break off clean and reduce 
weight of iron in remelt, bench, floor,' or machine moulding, etc. 
The rig problem is one of the most important to be considerec. 
and one to which more attention is bemg given at the present tmie 
than any other. For it has been found in many cases that from 
two to four times the number of duplicate castings can be turned 
out with the proper rig than were formerly turned out in the same 



MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 159 

time and in many cases with less labor and cost than was re- 
quired by old methods. 

Foreman a Failure. 

Foundry foremen are frequently a complete failure. Some 
from being overzealous in their work ; others from lack of am- 
bition and interest in their work ; others from lack of judgment 
in laying out work ; in selecting a moulder competent to moul 1 
the piece ; handling the men to the best advantage, etc. Others 
are a failure due to their uncontrollable desire to do more muscu- 
lar work than brain work, and permit the men to do as they 
please, regardless of results. 

One of the m.ost successful foremen that I know of, for 
large castings and heavy work, was employed at a large townary 
in Milwaukee, Wis. He very seldom lost a casting of any im- 
portance and his castings were as perfect as the casting could be 
made. He always saw that the pattern was in good condition ; 
that the flask was of the proper size, correctly barred and nailed; 
he selected his best moulder to make the moulds and the result 
was a perfect casting. 

This man had no faculty whatever for making things do. 
He could not take a flask that was not the exact size or shape and 
have it raised, shaped and barred to mould one or two castings, 
but must have a flask and rig exactly suited for the casting, and 
never started to mould until everything was perfect. He then 
put his best moulder to work on the job and turned out a perfect 
casting. 

This foreman was a high-salaried man. He paid his best 
moulders the highest wages he could get for them. His require- 
ments in patterns, flasks and rig was very expensive, and the 
result was that many of his castings cost more to make than his 
employer was able to get for them, and he was let go, not because 
he was not a competent man, but for the reason that he was too 
expensive a man. From this plant he went to a large engineer- 
ing plant in Eastern Pennsylvania, where he was only employed 
for a short time and let go for the same reason, too expensive 
a man. 

This man was an excellent foundryman, and understood 
perfectly every detail of foundry practice, but he had permitted 
his mind to become centered upon turning out perfect castmgs, 
and must have a perfect rig to do it with, and by so doing lost 
two excellent positions at a good salary. 



160 MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 

A foreman should always remember that he is employed to 
rnake money for his employer, and his wages will be in propor- 
tion to his ability to do so, and if he permits himself to indulge 
in special rigs, new flasks, high-priced' moulders, etc., to an ex- 
tent that there is no profit on the castings turned out, his em- 
ployer will have no use for him, no matter how perfect his 
castings may be. 

Superintendent of Foundries. ^ 

The position of superintendent of foundries is one that has 
been created in the past few years by firms or companies having 
a number of foundries located in different sections of the country, 
with a view of placing them all under one management, and 
obtaining more uniform results in their foundry plants. TUts 
plan has proven satisfactory to some firms and been abandoned 
by others after a trial. 

This is a very delicate position for a man to hold, for, as a 
rule, foremen object to being interfered with or dictated to 
by any one, and more especially by an outside man who is em- 
ployed for that purpose. He must be handled with care or the 
superintendent will soon find things going worse in the foundry 
and himself in a peck of trouble. 

A man for this position must be a thoroughly practical, up- 
to-date foundryman, capable of locating the cause of all troubles 
that may occur and give a remedy for them. He must act in an 
advisory rather than a dictatory manner. For if he gives orders 
for what is to be done he must assume responsibility for results, 
and if he gets the ill will of the foreman he may throw up his 
job at once or make him an endless amount of trouble, as may 
also the moulders, who would naturally side with the foreman. 

The best method for such a superintendent to pursue, tor 
his own good and the good of his employer, is to act in an 
advisory manner by suggesting how any trouble that may arise 
can be overcome and leaving it to the discretion of the foreman 
to carry out his suggestions or not. as he thinks best. If h's 
suggestions do not give the results desired, and there is reason 
to believe that they have not been followed out, then the only 
thing for the superintendent to do is to discharge the foreman 
or take charge himself and endeavor to locate the trouble and 
overcome it. In doing this he may find it necessary to discharge 
the foreman and the entire force of moulders. It may even be 
necessary to call down some of the office force in the matter 
of furnishing supplies that are not what they should be. 



MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY l6l 

This makes the position of superintendent of foundries one 
that can only be filled by a very competent man if the quality 
of castings is to be improved or the output increased. But if 
there are other objects in view in the employment of such a man, 
any figurehead with ability or in a position to accomplish the 
object in view, will answer the purpose. 

Handling of Workmen. 

A knowledge of men and of the handling of men are qualifi- 
cations absolutely necessary in a successful foreman. 

For him to put a light, delicate man at work handling pig . 
iron would be absurd, for he should see at a glance that the man 
had not the muscular power requisite for such work. To put 
a heavy, muscular man at work on a light job, requiring quick 
motion and activity, would be equally absurd. These and other 
qualities can be judged by the eye, and no talk is necessary. 

To put a bench moulder at work to mould a large cylinder 
with complicated cores, would be absurd, and to put a heavy 
cylinder moulder to work at bench moulding would be equally 
absurd, for both men would probably prove a failure. The first 
due to lack of knowledge in such moulding and the latter due to 
lack of interest in his work. 

Men work better when they have work to their liking, and 
a foreman should always endeavor to give his moulders the kind 
of moulding they like, or have been accustomed to. Before 
employing a moulder he should be questioned as to the kind of 
work he has been moulding; the length of time he has been 
moulding, etc. For in these days of machine moulding, and 
especially foundries, there are but few all-around moulders 
capable of moulding any piece, and to put a moulder to work 
when there is no job to suit him is only subjecting his employer 
to loss. 

The handling of workmen is another important factor which 
the successful foreman must possess or acquire, for it makes no 
difi^erence how much more he may know about founding than his 
workmen, if he cannot impart this knowledge to them for their 
benefit and the benefit of his employer, and by so doing insure a 
fair day's work and good castings, then his superior knowledge 
is of no value to his employer and he will prove a failure as a 
foreman. 

He should be patient with all men placed under his charge, 
and always remember that these men are not supposed to know 



162 MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 

as much or more than he does, for if they did they would be 
foremen and he workman. He should treat them with the same 
respect and consideration that he would expect or desire from 
them if any one of them were foreman. 

The yelling and swearing at workmen by a foreman is 
humiliating to a good man, whether moulder or laborer, and he 
generally takes the first opportunity to get away from this kind 
of treatment by accepting another job. A foreman will soon 
find himself with a shop full of inferior workmen who pay no 
attention to his yelling and swearing and do as they please as 
soon as he is out of sight, with the result that castings cost more 
than they should, and the foreman is a failure. 

A foreman should never reprimand a workman m the pres- 
ence of other workmen, or threaten to discharge him, for this 
creates a spirit of getting even with the foreman and this the 
men may do in the foundry or outside by talking to other work- 
men and make the foreman any amount of trouble. 

In case a man's work or conduct is not satisfactory he should 
be spoken to quietly at his work, or called to the office and his 
attention called to any matters that are not satisfactory. If this 
does not improve matters, he should be talked to again, and if 
this does not give satisfactory results it indicates that the man 
is not competent to do the work, or is lazy and indolent. In 
which case he should at once be given work that he can do, or be 
discharged. 

When a new man takes charge of a foundry that has been in 
operation for many years he may find a number of old men at 
work who do not earn the wages that are paid them ; these men 
have no doubt been good workmen in their younger days and 
employed in the foundry for many years, and in the early strug- 
gle of the founder of the plant, rendered valuable service in 
making the plant a success, and are kept at work and are given 
the wages they are receiving for this past service, rather than 
for the work they are doing. Such men must be handled with 
care by a new foreman, and before urging them to do more work, 
reducing their pay or discharging them the proprietor or man- 
ager should be consulted in reference to them. If old employees, 
they should be permitted to do about as they please, if not other- 
Avise ordered. For, in many cases, to offend one of these men is 
to offend the management and often many of the workmen. 

A foreman should have full authority over all men placed 
under his charge, with full power to select, hire and discharge 
them, for it is only by such authority that he can control them, 



MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 163 

and all orders to workmen should be given to the foreman and 
not to the man. For a man with two bosses has no boss at all. 

Producing in a Foundry. 

The moulders employed in a foundry are the only pro- 
ducers, for they are the only men that make castings and castings 
are the only salable product of a foundry. All other men em- 
ployed in a foundry, such as helpers, laborers, cupola men, core 
makers, foremen, flask makers, crane men, etc., are only helpers 
to the moulder, for they produce nothing that is salable. An- 
other set of men who may be classed as outside men, such as 
manager, draftsmen, pattern makers, clerks, book-keepers, engi- 
neers, teamsters, etc., are helpers to the moulders to the extent 
that their time is charged to the foundry, for they, hke all men 
employed in or in connection with a foundry, must receive their 
pay from the profits on castings turned out by the moulders, and 
if these profits are not sufficient to meet the pay roll and leave 
a profit for the founder, then the foundry is a failure. 

It will therefore readily be seen that in order to make a 
foundry pay the help must be in proportion to the number of 
moulders employed and each moulder must do a fair day's work 
for his day's pay. 

The reason why many foundries do not pay is that they are 
so poorly designed, that the flask yard and carpenter shop are 
too far away from the foundry. Castings have to be carried 
back and forward to the cleaning room and finishing room. The 
distance for wheeling iron and coke to the cupala and removal 
of dump is too long, and extra help is necessary. 

Another reason is that men are permitted by incompetent 
management to loaf on the job, and extra men are necessary to 
get the work done. This is the case with many foundries run 
in connection with machine shops and other plants, and if sepa- 
rated from them could not earn their pay roll on the output ot 
castings. 

The labor problem is a very important matter in foundry 
practice and every device to save labor should be put m to make 
it a paying proposition. 

Management and Office Force. 

Another matter that should be carefully looked after in 
making a foundry pay is the management and office force. _ This 
in many foundries is made an expensive luxury by the fitting up 



164 MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 

of expensive offices and the employment of unnecessary man- 
agers and an elaborate book and cost keeping system, requiring 
many book-keepers, clerks and office boys, all of whom are non- 
producers. 

I have frequently been called upon to determine why d 
foundry plant did not pay, and to make suggestions for putting 
it on a paying basis. At one of these foundries in the South 1 
found twelve colored moulders at work, moulding pipe fittings 
on stripping plate machines. Not one of these men had served 
an apprenticeship at moulding and only three of them were put- 
ting up a full day's work. In the office force I fcu:id seven 
men ; these were the manager, treasurer, superintendent, four 
book-keepers or clerks. The manager's and treasurer's salaries 
were five thousad dollars each ; the superintendent, three thou- 
sand dollars, and the four office men's salaries averaged three 
dollars per day each. Which, for three hundred working days 
during the year, amounted to three thousand six hundred dol- 
ars, or a total of sixteen thousand six hundred dollars per year 
for management and office force. This amount when divideG 
by twelve gives four dollars and sixty-one cents as the manage- 
ment and office cost for each moulder per day. Adding this to 
the moulders' wages and the wages of a foundry foreman, core 
room foreman, core makers, cupola men, laborers, etc., the labor 
cost per moulder was over ten dollars per day for each moulder. 
There was not this amount of profit on the castings turned out 
by any moulder in the foundry, and of course the foundry wa& 
running at a loss. 

I pointed out this condition of afifairs to the manager and 
suggested that his salary and that of the treasurer and superin- 
tendent be reduced and the office force be reduced to one man. 
But the manager and treasurer were the promoters of the plant, 
the superintendent and office men were stockholders, and this 
could not be done. I then suggested that the service of the core 
room foreman be dispensed with, a more competent foundry 
foreman be secured, and the moulders be given instruction in 
moulding and the output of castings increased. This was at- 
tempted, but before it could be reduced to a practical basis the 
reputed millionaire lumber man, who had been furnishing the 
money to keep the plant running, got tired of his job, and the 
plant closed down and remained closed until it was reorganized 
on a practical basis, with competent men in charge, and it was 
then made a success. 

A plant in New York State which I investigated had a man- 
ager, superintendent, assistant superintendent and foreman. An 



Making a foundry plant pay 165 

office force of eight men and women, and about twenty moulders. 
This plant did not make sufficient money to pay the office force, 
and after running at a loss for some time, the principal owner 
took charge of it, discharged the entire management and office 
force, discontinued the red tape system always connected with 
such a management, and made the plant a success. 

The cost for non-productive labor in the management, office 
force and foundry is a matter that must be very carefully looked 
after in making a foundry pay, for if its cost is in excess of the 
profits on the castings turned out by the moulders the foundry 
cannot be made a paying investment. There are two ways of 
solving this problem. One is to reduce the cost of non-pro- 
ductive labor, the other to devise means of increasing the output 
of castings. 

Some years ago there were two foundries in Philadelphia, 
each of which had a capacity of about twenty moulders. One 
of these foundries was run by a New England foundry man and 
was known as a Yankee Foundry. The other was run by a 
German. Each of these men managed his business and em- 
ployed only a shipping clerk and foreman to assist him in man- 
agement. The Yankee foundry hid a slate upon which a record 
was made of the delivery of casiings, orders received, etc., and 
when time permitted during the day, or in the evening, entries 
were made in the books from the slate. 

One day the German's clerk informed him that he wanted a 
new account book and some paper. The German said : "You 
don't need any book and paper ; look at the Yankee Foundry, they 
keep all their books on a slate." 

The Yankee Foundry man made a fortune and retired. The 
German founder was successful, and his sons now have one ot 
the best managed and most successful foundries in Philadelphia. 

Efficiency in Hiring and Discharging Workmen. 

Cost of hiring and discharging workmen is presumed by 
every manager to be expensive, but very few have given pub- 
licity to the detailed expenses ; indeed, it is somewhat doubtful 
if this most important factor in industrial methods of manage- 
ment has ever received the close attention it deserves. 

However, M. W. Alexander, of the General Electric Co.'s 
plant at Lynn, Mass., has recently presented some surprising 
figures. They show an economic loss by indiscriminate hiring 



i(36 MAKING A FOlJNDRY PLANT PA¥ 

and the essential training of workmen that has not generally 
been recognized. 

An employer increasing his force from 1000 to 1200 in a 
year would need to contemplate the employment of only 200 aa- 
ditional men if conditions were ideal, but some workmen die, or 
become ill for long periods and must, therefore, be replaced, 
while others prove unfit for the work. Just how many times the 
original recruiting force must be mutiplied has been a matter 
of the wildest speculation rather than close commercial calcu- 
lation before Mr. Alexander's figures were at hd-uvl. 

A group of factories was selected by Mr. Alexander for 
investigation, the total number of workmen of various grades 
employed being about 42,000. From January 1 to December 31 
the number of men at work increased to 48,697. an actual increase 
in the permanent force of 6,697 men. To gain this increase 
42,571 men were actually hired and set to work. 

It is thus seen that at the end of one year only about 16 
per cent, of the men employed were retained. The investigator 
concluded that hiring 22,200 of these men could have been 
avoided, this number being reached by assuming that 1 per cent 
of the employees die, that 5 per cent leave on account of sickness, 
that 10 per cent either withdraw or are discharged, and that the 
efficiency of the employment department is 75 per cent. 

The economic loss from indiscriminate hiring and discharg- 
ing of workmen was classified by Mr. Alexander under the fol- 
lowing heads : 

a. The clerical work of hiring. 

b. The instruction of new employees by the foremen and 
assistants. 

c. Increased wear and tear of and damage to machinery and 
tools by new men. 

d. Decreased rate of production during the early period of 
productivity of the new men. 

e. Increased amount of spoiled work by the new employees. 

Using above classification and percentages to analyze the 
direct loss to the employer, and by dividing the workmen into 
various classes, Mr. Alexander found that the 22,200 men who 
should never have been employed caused an actual loss of over 
$35 per man, or a total of about $777,000 in one year. To de- 
crease this loss the following suggestions are offered : 



MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 167 

a. A careful study of current employment statistics should 
be made with an analysis of the reasons for the discharges. 

b. We need a far higher grade of men in charge of the 
hiring and firing of men than we have had heretofore in our em- 
ployment clerks. 

c. While it is important to exercise proper care, thought 
and study in the hiring of employees, it seems vastly more im- 
portant to apply the proper methods in initiating new employees 
in the work, and to treat them properly. 

d. We ought to have effective systems of apprenticeship, 
factory schools, special training courses, or whatever name you 
may call them, so that we may not be dependent only on the 
grown-up men as they float around the country, but that we may 
effectively take hold of the youths of the country and train them 
in the ways of our industry, and in loyalty and intelligence. 

e. So far as it can be done, we ought to be able to regulate 
a little more the commercial requirements as they come to the 
factory. 

Investigation of several factories in England zr.t Germany 
mdicates that the conditions existing in these countries are similar 
to those found in the United States, proving that the problem U 
international. 

Boys As Expensive Operators of Cranes. ' '■ 

An instance where the price of inexperience may be fixed at 
high level by law following an accident. 

Company employing many foreigners in foundry followed-;. 
local custom of having boys for crane operators. It was desired 
to move a heavy casting from the corner where it was piled out 
of the way. A chain hitch was made around the pouring gate 
which was still attached to the casting. Word was given to 
hoist away. Boy ran his trolley away from above the load and 
then threw over his hoisting switch. The sudden strain broke 
away the casting gate and swung it toward the main floor. On 
the way it hit and seriously injured a moulder. ,'. . 

Now the company is defendant in a $25,000 damage suit- 
but grown men are used for crane operators, and all hoisting 
work is done in vertical Hfts. 



Efficieney 

CHAPTER XII. 

Efficiency. 

Probably in no other industry is there a greater opportunity 
to improve conditions and increase profit by efficiency than in 
the foundry industry. Efficiency means the elimination of waste 
and loss by a correct system or method of doing things. 

In many foundries there is no care taken of stock whatever. 
Moulding and core sands are piled in the yard to be washed by 
the rain, trampled into the mud in wet weather and tons of it 
lost. Coke is piled in the same way, and crushed by wagons 
driving over the edge of the pile and trampled into the mud. 
There is also a loss of these materials through carelessness by 
loading barrows in such a way that pieces of coke fall ofif and 
are not picked up, and the runway from the coke pile or bin to 
the cupola is lined with coke. A trail of sand is left from every 
barrow from the sand pile or bin to the moulding floor or core 
room. 

Pig iron is thrown from cars or wagons upon soft ground, 
sinks into the ground, and if the piece of ground so used is dug 
Up, after iron has been so piled for a number of years, or even 
a shorter time, the founder will be surprised to find the member 
of pigs that have sunk out of sight and never been missed. 

Scrap iron disappears in the same way, and when broken 
upon the ground very small pieces are seldom picked up, and 
tons of scrap are lost in this way. This loss of pig and scrap 
may be prevented by providing bins for both pig and _ scrap. 
These may be constructed very cheaply of old railroad ties set 



Er^i^iciENCY 169 

on end in the ground, and for pig iron a floor may be made of 
the same material. A scrap bin should have a concrete floor an(i 
small pieces recovered each day to prevent them being destroyed 
by rust. 

The handling of this material is another thing that should 
be carefully looked after. Barrows are overloaded or broken 
by throwing pigs upon them and frequently break down and they 
and their load are thrown to one side and left there. Scrap falls 
from barrows and is not picked up, and many foundry yards are 
so littered up by such carelessness and neglect as to be danger- 
ous to life and limb. 

In many foundries there is no system to their cupola prac- 
tice. Nothing is weighed that goes into the cupola, the weight 
of coke, pig and scrap is guessed at, and there is an extravagant 
use of fuel, heavy destruction of lining, with a heavy loss of 
casting due to poorly melted iron. 

But the greatest inefiiciency is in the moulding department. 
There have been but few regular apprentices at moulding for 
years who served their full time and become good, all around 
moulders. The places of moulders have been filled by moulding 
machines and handy men. These men are not properly in- 
structed in either machine or floor moulding, and are expected 
to learn moulding from observing the working of men who have 
not been properly instructed in the art of machine or hand 
moulding. 

A proper instruction of machine moulders in the handling 
of the machines would greatly reduce the cost for repairs and 
give greater efficiency, and a proper instruction of floor and 
bench moulders in the elimination of waste and motion, proper 
handling and placing of tools, patterns, flasks, boards, etc., con- 
venient for use would in many cases greatly increase the output 
of castings. 

There are but few large foundry plants that could not greatly 
increase their profit by the employment of an efificiency man, 
whose duties were to look after the matters enumerated and 
many more in which a saving could be effected by proper care. 

Such a man should be a thorough, practical moulder, capable 
of giving proper instructions to not only new beginners, but also 



1?0 Eli^F'lClENCY 

to regular moulders, many of whom have not been properly 
instructed and are as inefficient as new beginners. 

Whistle Telephone Call. 

Large plants with telephone connections with the main office 
to the various departments can obtain more prompt and efficient 
service by placing a small steam or compressed air whistle in a 
central part of the plant, where it can be heard all over the plant, 
and have a whistled code by which a certain number of toots of 
the whistle calls to the phone the head of the department wanted. 

The phone call is made to the foreman's office, and if there 
is no answer the whistle is tooted. This lets him know that he 
is wanted on the phone, and he at once goes to it. This saves a 
great deal of time in having a runner or office boy hunt him all 
over the plant and greatly increases efficiency. 

Cost Keeping. 

A great deal has been said and written about cost finding 
and cost keeping systems in foundry practice, and many of these 
systems have been published in the foundry and other periodicals. 
Most of the systems so published have been prepared by account- 
ants not familiar with the details of foundry practice, and while 
they show up very nicely in print are entirely too elaborate and 
expensive for a foundry plant. The added cost for books, paper, 
printing and non-productive labor for collecting the data and 
preparing the report is so large that the cost is greater than the 
saving effected by the cost-keeping system. Also cost of produc- 
tion is increased rather than decreased by the system. 

The various cost-keeping systems as published appear to be 
all based upon two plans. These are the co-operative system 
and the record system. 

By the co-operative system the workmen are required to 
co-operate with the management to the extent of furnishing the 
data from which to make up the estimate of cost of production. 

I had an opportunity of observing the working out of this 
system in a large Philadelphia foundry plant a few years ago. 
This system was a very elaborate one, designed to cover every 
possible cost and be inexpensive in collecting the data. Daily 
work cards were issued to each workman, upon which they were 
required to make a detailed record of the time spent in moulding 
each casting, cleaning the casting, chipping it, making cores, etc. 



Ki^t^lClENCY 171 

This system was at once denounced by the workmen as a 
spy upon them, and every one of them, from the foreman down, 
at once started to make it a failure. The cards were filled out in 
such a jumbled up way that the desired information could not be 
obtained from them. One common complaint made by the work- 
men was that they had no watch and could not state time, and 
clocks had to be installed all over the plant. This did not improve 
matters, and the foreman was appealed to to fill out the card. 
But he, being in sympathy with the men, stated that he had no 
time to make out cards without neglecting his other duties as 
foreman. 

A young man who was not familiar with the details of 
foundry work was then sent out from the office to fill out the 
cards. The men easily managed to give this man the details of 
their day's work in a way that it was of no value in cost keeping. 
A moulder would give a minimum time for moulding each piece 
and account for the balance of his time in waiting for the crane, 
patterns, flasks, hunting clamps, jagers, etc. A coremaker would 
account for his time in waiting for sand, binder, core boxes, etc. 
And complaints of this kind were so numerous that a servant 
would have been required for almost every man in the plant. 

The collection of data in this way. although not at all 
reliable, was continued, and three men were employed in collect- 
ing, classifying, figuring out daily costs and placing it in books 
for reference. The salaries of these three men, together with 
cost for cards, paper, printing, books, etc.. amounted to about 
$2500 per year, and increased the cost of castings to that extent. 

This firm, although it had plenty of work and did a large 
business for years, melting as high as fifty tons of iron per day, 
finally went out of business without ever having declared a 
dividend during their existence, which would indicate that their 
cost-keeping system was not a success. 

This same system has proven a complete failure in a number 
of foundries I have visited and been abandoned by them. 

The record system of cost keeping consists of a set of blanks 
to be filled out by the head of the various departments, and is 
entirely independent of the workmen. The following set of 
blanks for this system were furnished by a large foundry com- 
})any who have had this system in use for a number of years and 
report it very satisfactory. 

The casting order we show is a card that is filled out at the 
main office on receipt of order for every casting to be made_and 



172 



EPl'lClENCY 



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EFFICIENCY 173 

sent to the foundry office. The following is an explanation of 
this card : Lot No. is the number of order to which the casting 
belonged and is to enable the cleaning department to pile or 
place each casting in the lot to which it belongs and save time 
and labor in hunting for castings. No. Pes. is the number of 
castings to be made and cleaned. Name of piece is for cleaning 
and shipping. Mat., the metal in which it is to be cast — hard, 
soft or close iron, brass or other metal. Pattern No., number of 
pattern, all patterns being numbered. The name of party order- 
ing and their pattern number inserted. Casting order B 2861 
means the number of this particular order for filing purposes. 
Av. Wt., weight of casting, is a guide for cleaning and shipping. 
Shipments form is for recording shipments of order in parts. 
When the order is completed the card is returned to the office 
with its detail all filled out. 

Three of these forms are printed on dififerent colored paper, 
marked Pattern Copy, Casting Department Copy, Moulding 
Department Copy. On receipt of the order the foundry clerk 
fills out one of these blanks for each department. That for the 
pattern foreman gives name of customer and their pattern num- 
ber or shop number, if they do not furnish their own pattern, 
and name of piece. He at once finds the pattern, sees that it is 
in good condition and has it ready when called for, and there is 
no waiting for the pattern by the pattern carrier or moulder. 
When the pattern is delivered the card is placed on file, and 
when the order is filled he sees that the pattern is returned to 
its place. 

That for the moulder is filled out and sent to him, with the 
pattern, so that he knows the total number and just how many 
is wanted per day, and is informed of the number of defective 
castings found in cleaning, to be made up, and when the order 
is completed returns the card to the office, with the record of 
the number of perfect castings made. 

That for the cleaning department is filled out and sent to 
this department, and serves as a guide for cleaning, sorting, pil- 
ing and reporting defective castings. 

The four cards all bear the same number and when the 
order is completed are returned to the main office and give all 
the information necessary for cost estimate of labor in pro- 
ducing them. 

Foundry Daily Scrap Report. This is filled out by the head 
of the casting cleaning department and shows the number of 
castings lost each day and cause of loss, This report enables 



174 



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E^I^FICIENCY 175 

the foreman to call attention to the moulders, of their loss and 
cause of loss that it may be avoided and also gives the main 
office information as to what is being done in the foundry. 

Foundry Time Ticket. This is a card to be filled out by 
each moulder and shows the number and kind of castings made 
by him daily or weekly. The item No. in flask refers to num- 
ber of patterns moulded in each flask. This is a check-off on the 
practice of some moulders of putting up a large number of flasks 
with very little in them to make a showing of a big day's work 
on the floor, save time and labor in finishing the mould and have 
little iron to carry. 

Daily Report of Castings. This is the cupola report. This is 
filled out by the foreman for the cupola man to charge by and 
after the heat the other items are filled in. 

The weekly report is filled out from the other reports by 
the foundry clerk. 

These cards or reports when correctly filled out and re- 
turned to the cost-keeping clerk give the production and its cost 
for labor, etc., that properly belongs to the foundry and is a 
check-up on all delinquents but does not cover cost of material 
and foundry supplies or overhead charges. These are obtained 
from the office books and stock on hand. 

This is about the most perfect cost-keeping system, so far 
as the foundry is concerned, that I have seen in use, for it 
obtains all the data necessary for cost estimating and the work 
of collecting data is so divided up that it costs practically noth- 
ing for obtaining it. 

Weight of Iron. 

Carbon in iron decreases the weight of iron by increasing its 
bulk. The form the carbon assumes in iron also has a marked 
effect in increasing bulk and decreasing weight in iron of the 
same bulk. 

A cubic foot of pure iron weighs 489 lbs. One of white 
cast iron with the carbon all in combination with the iron weighs 
474 lbs. ; one of mottled iron weighs 458 lbs. ; one of grey iron 
weighs 450 lbs., and one of dark grey or No. 1 foundry iron, 
with the carbon nearly all in the graphite state, weighs 425 lbs., 
making the dift'erence in the weight of a cubic foot of pure iron 
and a cubic foot of No. 1 foundry iron 64 lbs. The difference 
between a white iron that may be cast and a No. 1 foundry soft 



176 



EFnClEl^GY 





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02 



EFIflCIENCY 177 

iron is 49 lbs. A casting cast from the same pattern, of whits 
iron and one cast of grey iron, differs to that extent in weight. A 
casting weighing a ton in grey iron, weighs approximately 230 
lbs. more when cast in white iron. This is a matter that must 
be taken into consideration when figuring the weight of a casting 
from measurement and in estimating the weight of iron re- 
quired when making up a heat. 

The weight of one cubic inch of these irons in ounces is as 
follows: White iron, 3.65; mottled, Z.77 ', grey, 3.84; No. 1 
foundry, 4.07. Multiplying these weights by the cubic inches in a 
pattern gives the weight in ounces, and dividing the number of 
ounces by 16 gives the number of pounds of iron in a casting 
of any given measurement. 

But in castings a pattern is liable to swell and cores are liable 
to shrink in drying and an allowance must be made for this, 
and also for gates, risers, sink heads, etc., and it is always better 
to have a little iron over than a little iron short, and a liberal 
allowance over the weight indicated should always be provided. 

In making up a heat it is the practice to estimate each 
cubic inch as four ounces for grey iron, and dividing the num- 
ber of cubic inches in a pattern by four gives the number of 
pounds the casting will weigh. 

Price List of Analysis. 

The following are the prices for analyses of metal and other 
materials of one of the leading laboratories of Philadelphia, Pa.: 

Iron and Steel. 

Silicon $0.75 

Sulphur (iodine method) 75 

Pho.sphorus 1.00 

Manganese 1.00 

Graphite 1.00 

Total Carbon 1.50 

Sulphur (aqua regia method) 3.00 

Sil. Sulp. Phos : 2.25 

Sil. Sulp. Phos. Mang -. 3.25 

Graphite. Total Carbon | _ ._ 

Sil. Sulp. Phos. Mang. [ ^-^^ 



178 



BFpICIlTCCY 



DAILY REPORT OF CAST 



- si: : 

tB»TE 
















WEATHER 








• 












DIFFERENT BRANDS OF PIG IRON 




I 
o 
















o«S 


, 


























2 


























3 


























4 


























5 


























6 


























7 


























B 


























9 


























10 


























,, 


























12 


























13 


























TOT.L3 


























0»E POUND COKE 


.ELTEO 


BLAST P 


DN OF IRON 


COLD \ GOOD HOT 


MELT PER HOUK 


1ESSURE IN OZ 






£ 












b. 




BAD CASTINGS 


BOTTOM DROPPED 




« 






TIME HOURS MIN 




Z 






PIG IRON WAS « OF CHARGE 




B. 






SCRAP AND RETURNS WERE 













GOOD CASTINGS WERE " '" 




INES ■ 




, 


FROM MLuu. mn^n 


BAD CASTINGS WERE 


NO. FLOORS 












TOTAL N 


J. OF MEN 










• •• 



Size 8V3X 1 1 inches 



KFPICIENCV 171) 

Ferro Alloys and Special Steels. 

Silicon . 2.50 

Sulphur gravimetric 3.00 

Phosphorus , 2.00 

Manganese 2.00 

Carbon 2.00 

Nickel 3.00 :, 

Chromium 2.50 

Tungsten 2.50 

Vanadium 5.00 ,< 

A reduction will be made when three or more elements are 
determined in one sample. 

Coal and Coke. 

Moisture, Vol. Combustible ; Fixed Carbon, Ash, 

Sulphur and Phos 8.00 

Moisture, Vol. Combustible; Fixed Carbon, Ash. 3.00 

Ash and Sulphur 2.50 

Sulphur , 1.75 

Phosphorus 3.50 

British Thermal Units 5.00 

Limestone, Sands, Clay, Cement 

Silica, Oxide of Iron, Alumina, Lime, Magnesia, 

and Loss on Ignition 10.00 

Sulphur Trioxide (in cement) 1.50 

Specific Gravity 1.00 

Iron Ore, Mill Scale, Puddle Cinders, Etc. 

Silica 2.00 

Iron 2.00 

Phosphorus 3.00 

Manganese 2.50 

Sulphur 3.00 

Moisture 100 

A reduction will be made where three or more elements are 
determined in one sample. ... _ . .-. 



l80 SFlflClBNCY 

Brass, Bronze and Babbit Metals. 

Aluminum, Antimony, Copper, Lead, Phos- 
phorus, Tin, Zinc, each 3.00 

A reduction will be made where two or more elements are 
determined in one sample of these alloys. 

Remarks : A small charge will be made to cover cost of 
any drilling required on samples of iron, steel or alloys. 

The above were the prices just before the war, they are 
much higher just now, but these prices Vv^ill probably be restored 
when the war is over. 



INDEX 



IRON 
CHAPTER 1 

PAGE 

Iron S 

Pig Irons, Foundry Iron, Cold Blast Charcoal Pig 4 

Hot Blast Charcoal Pig 6 

Warm Blast Charcoal Pig 7 

Gun Metal Pig 8 

Anthracite Pig 9 

Coke Pig 10 

Silver Grey Pig 1 1 

Southern Pig, Scotch Pig 12 

American Scotch Pig, Kish in Iron 13 

Bessemer Pig, Basic Pig, Malleable Bessemer or Malleable Pig, Spiegel, 

Speigel-Eisen or Mirror Iron 14 

Mayari Pig 15 

Other Pig Irons 16 

METHOD OF CASTING PIG IRON 
CHAPTER II 

Sand Pig 17 

Chill Cast Pig, Sandless or Machine Cast Pig 18 

Fracture Grading of Pig Iron 20 

Fracture Indication of Coke and Anthracite Iron 21 

Cold Blast Charcoal Iron Fracture 22 

Hot Blast Charcoal Fracture, Warm Blast Charcoal Fracture 23 

Sandless Pig Fracture, Scotch Pig Fracture, Silver Grey Fracture ... .24 
Speigel-Eisen Fracture, Other Pig Fractures 25 

SCRAP IRONS 

CHAPTER III 

Machinery Scrap 26 

Car Wheel Scrap 27 

Stove Plate Scrap, Plow Point Scrap 28 

Promiscuous Scrap, Steel Casting Scrap 29 

Malleable Scrap 30 

Wrought Iron Scrap, Foundry Scrap 31 

Shot Iron 32 

Turnings and Borings 35 



182 iNt>^Ji 

SCRAP IRONS— Chapter III— (Continued) 

PAGE 

New Methods for Melting this Iron 36 

German Method of Briquetting this Metal 38 

Pressure Briquetting 39 

Binder Briquetting 40 

Other Methods of Briquetting 41 

Chattanooga Method, W. F. Keep's Method, R. P. Shaw's Method 42 

Piping Borings 43 

My Own Tests 44 

Steel Turnings and Borings 45 

Bins for Pig and Scrap 46 

CHEMISTRY 
CHAPTER IV 

Chemistry .47 

Chemistry of Pig Iron 48 

Silicon 49 

Silicon Lost in Melting 52 

Ferro-Silicon 54 

Phosphorus 55 

Manganese 56 

Ferro-Manganese 58 

Sulphur 59 

Sulphur as a Hardener 60 

High Sulphur in Soft Grey Iron — A Bad Reputation — Some High-Sul- 
phur Iron Soft — Not So Bad as Painted 61 

Foundry Foreman as a Chemist 64 

MIXING IRON BY ANALYSIS 

CHAPTER V 

Mixing Iron by Analysis 66 

Tabulation of Material to be Charged and Method of Figuring the Mix- 
ture 70 

Special Pig 71 

Chemical Standard for Iron Castings . . .72 

Stove Plate Mixture. 78 

Testing Pig Iron ......'. 79 

Hoodoo Pig Iron : 80 

Hardness and Small Blow Holes .82 

Hardening Due to Chilling of the Iron by Sand 83 

Iron Poured Hot or Dull, Chill on Castings 84 

Theory of Melting Scrap „. 85 



INDEX 183 

LOSS AND GAIN OF IRON IN MKLTING 
CHAPTER VI 

PAGE 

Loss of Iron in Melting 86 

Loss in Melting Machinery Scrap, Loss in Melting Old Stove Plate 

Scrap 87 

Loss in Melting Plow Point Scrap, Loss in Melting Shot Iron 88 

Loss in Melting Burned Iron 89 

Loss and Gain in Melting Pig and Scrap Iron, Gain in Melting Pig Iron, 

Loss in Melting Scrap 90 

Stove Foundry Melting 91 

Determining Actual Loss of Iron 93 

Casting by Direct Process 94 

Oxidized Iron 96 

Oxidation of Iron by Heat 97 

Sash Weight Metals 98 

Temper in Cast Iron 99 

Automobile Cylinder Packing Rings 100 

FKRRO-ALLOYS 
CHAPTER VII 

Ferro-Aluminum, Ferro-Chrome 101 

Ferro-Manganese, Ferro-Molybdenum 102 

Ferro-Nickel, Ferro-Phosphorus, Phosphor-Manganese, Silico-Spiegel 103 

Ferro-Silicon, Bessemer Ferro-Silicon, Ferro-Sodium 104 

Spiegel-Eisen, Ferro-Titanium 105 

Ferro-Tungsten, Ferro-Vanadium, Typical Analysis of Mayari Iron . .106 

TESTING IRONS 
CHAPTER VIII 

Definition of Test 108 

Fracture Test, Transverse Test, Change of Shape, Tensile Test 109 

Impact Test, Crushing Test, Direct Physical Test, Relative Test, 

Standard Test 110 

Standard Foundry Test, Chilled Test, Test Bars Ill 

Length of Test Bars, Care in Casting Test Bars 112 

Tensile and Other Test Pieces, Strength of Cast Iron 113 

Adding Strength to Cast Iron 114 

Testing Machines, Standard for Strength 116 

Transverse Test Bars in Green Sand and Not Machined, The Shore 

Scleroscope 118 

What They Use the Scleroscope For 119 



184 INDEX 

PERFECT CASTINGS 
CHAPTER IX 

PAGE 

Dirt in Castings 123 

Sandwich Hard Spots 124 

Blow Holes in Castings 126 

Skimming Iron 127 

Casting Iron Around Steel 128 

Notes on Close-Grained Soft Cast Iron 130 

Flasks 131 

Flask Pins, Care of Flasks 133 

INCREASKD OUTPUT OF CASTINGS 
CHAPTER X . 

Lost Motion in Moulding 135 

Safety Commandments in Action 137 

Elimination of Waste Motion in Bench Moulding 138 

Foundries in a Rut 142 

MAKING A FOUNDRY PLANT PAY 

CHAPTER XI 

Location 150 

Designing a Foundry Plant 152 

Foundry Yard, A Moulder Owning a Foundry 154 

Machine Shop and Foundry 156 

Foundry Foreman 157 

Foreman a Failure 159 

Superintendent of Foundries 160 

Handling of Workmen 161 

Producing in a Foundry, Management and Office Force 163 

Efficiency in Hiring and Discharging Workmen 165 

Boys as Expensive Operators of Cranes 167 

EFFICIENCY 
CHAPTER XII 

Efficiency 168 

Whistle Telephone Call, Cost Keeping 170 

Weight of Iron 175 

Price List of Analysis 177 



